


The Game Begins Anew

by Chalisedrea



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24076639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chalisedrea/pseuds/Chalisedrea
Summary: A little over a year after taking down those who threatened all of humanity, the Phantom Thieves have gone their seperate ways.  However, a new threat lingers on the horizon, and as cases of mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns reappear out of nowhere, it's clear that something wicked is coming.  Some are eager, once more, to place the blame at the feet of the Phantom Thieves.  Sae, however, is once again on the case, and she knows that the Phantom Thieves aren't to blame.  The only question is, can they prove it?
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	1. Instant Crush

**Author's Note:**

> So, before we begin, I just want to make it clear that there will be spoilers in this fic for P5 and P5R. Also, I'm super new to the series, having just finished my first playthrough of P5R and never having played P5 before that. As I was approaching the end of the game though, the first ideas for this sequelfic began sprouting up in my mind.

**Chapter 1**

**Instant Crush**

“ _I got this picture of us kissin’ in my head_

_And all I hear is the last thing that you said...”_

An instant crush. That truly was how it all began. A sudden downpour on what had began as a sunny April morning had Ren quickly seeking shelter underneath the awning of the first store he could run to. He had been in Tokyo for all of three days, and every one of them sucked. However, a different kind of sun would soon come to him. It was the first time that he met her, though he did not know her name at the time. She was as beautiful then as she was now, and he couldn’t help but to stare at her. He was lucky she didn’t just write him off as a creeper then. But in that moment he had caught his first glimpse of the kindness in her as she had just answered his stare with a grin.

Now, in the present, Ren sat at his desk. That memory seemed so far away from him. He spun his pen in his hand idly as he gazed at a picture on his desk. Him and Ann on their last day in Hawaii. He smiled and then looked back to his notes. He was almost done now with his third year of high school, college entrance exams were right around the corner, but all he could think about was how long it had been since he had seen her. Nearly three months to the day now. Her quest to be one of the world’s top models had taken her to America, New York to be exact. He had been able to make the trip exactly once, during the summer, and she had come back to Tokyo for the winter break and Christmas. He was glad for the time he had, and of course they still talked or texted each other every day, but it was hard being so far away…

Ren was broken out of his thoughts by the sounds of a certain someone yawning behind him.

“Good morning!” Morgana greeted Ren as he stretched out and then leaped down off the bed and then onto the desk. Ren, ever the quite type, answered with just a nod to his friend.

It was then that his phone buzzed. That had to be Ann. It was 7 AM for him, so it had to be roughly 6 PM for her. She always texted him before school, and he’d often return the favor before hers. They both agreed seeing the other’s texts the first thing in the morning was often the best way to wake up. Picking up the phone he immediately opened up his messenger.

“ _Good morning Ren.”_ Even just the simple greeting was enough to bring a full fledged grin to Ren’s face. His eyes though did a quick glance over at Morgana, who was reading the text with him. When Ann had come on Valentine’s Day before he had come home and the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, Morgana had taken it hard. Even now, he could still see the flash of sadness in Morgana’s eyes as his “Lady Ann” was talking to her actual lover and his best friend. It was better now, but the first few months of just the two of them had been rough.

“ _Good evening darling.”_ Ren responded. He could already see the pink rising in Ann’s cheeks, even though she was on the other side of the world. Even now, public displays of affection and being given any sort of cutesy nickname by him set her to blushing. He found it just as adorable now as he had when they had confessed to each other shortly after taking down Kaneshiro.

“ _Ren! Stop it!”_

“ _How did your shoot go today?”_

“ _It was okay. Things are a lot different here than back home. The modeling I’m doing is much… skimpier.”_

Ren raised a brow at that. Ann was a great model. She could pull of sexy with the best of them, but he knew that she sometimes had issues with the idea of being nude or mostly nude when modeling.

“ _Just be true to yourself. No matter what happens, I know you’ll be great.”_

“ _Thanks. You always just know what to say. How have your studies been going. Still top of the class?”_

Ren grinned for a moment as he looked down at his notebook and laptop. He had woken up extra early this morning to put the finishing touches on one of his papers for English. “ _Still hard at it, yes. Though, I find myself wishing you were here to give me your English expertise.”_

“ _Oh, just for my English skills, huh?”_

Ren could see that teasing grin on her face in his mind. _“_ _One of many reasons I wish you were here. I love you, Ann.”_

“ _You’re making me blush… I love you too.”_

“ _Have a good night. I still need to get ready for school. See you in the morning?”_

“ _Absolutely, good luck in school.”_

Once he had put the phone down, he picked up his stuff and began putting it in his bag. He then looked over at Morgana, who had been reading their entire text conversation. Morgana returned the look. “It sounds like Lady Ann is having a tough time out there.”

Ren silently nodded. “She’s strong though. She’ll be able to handle anything that’s thrown her way.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Lady Ann was always the best.” Morgana agreed. Poor guy was still crushing hard on Ann. Though, Ren could tell he was getting better and was genuinely happy for Ann and Ren, it still made Ren feel a tad guilty.

Once all of his things were packed and ready, Ren headed to grab a shower. He stripped off his shirt as he headed out of his room and towards the bathroom. He had made sure to keep himself fit even though he was no longer a Phantom Thief. As he passed the mirror in the bathroom, he took a quick look at himself. He still couldn’t quite believe the twists and turns that his life had taken over the last two years, but his body only proved that all of it had been truth. Before everything had happened, he was a fit, but overall average teenager. But now, he thought he looked like some sort of pro athlete, like an Olympic swimmer or something.

Shaking his head softly, he chuckled at himself and his own musings. He had become a lot more introspective in these days. As he turned on the water and stepped into the shower, he realized that he really missed those days in Tokyo. Ann was the biggest thing, of course, but just hanging out with everyone. Sure, they seemed to always be fighting for their lives, backs to the wall, and many times desperate. Hell, he had even had been the target of an attempted assassination, but still, those days were the most fun he ever could remember having. At the time, after they had taken down Shido, Yaldabaoth, and Maruki, saving the world several times over, he had felt a relief that they had won and their fight had come to an end. Now though, he wished to be doing it again. That feeling of infiltrating the Palace of some twisted mind and stealing their distorted desires to change their heart for the better was something he really had begun to sorely miss.

Those thoughts had to be pushed aside for now, though. Their link to the Metaverse had been destroyed after their fight with Doctor Maruki, and Ren himself had other things to be worrying about now. He had been talking with Ann for months about what he would do after high school. College was clear, but what would he focus on. Together they had came across the answer. He would follow Toranosuke Yoshida, looking to become a politician. He couldn’t change the hearts of single people anymore, but perhaps he could change the hearts of the public at large.

It was going to be a long battle, but one that Ren was looking forward to. It would be good to have a goal to fight towards. Everyone else in their group had goals they were looking towards, after all. The first step was getting into college, and the one he had to focus on in the moment.

After the shower, he pulled on his uniform and grabbed his bag, which Morgana had already stashed himself away in. It would be another boring day of school he was sure, and he was right. While his current academy was alright, it paled in comparison to Shujin in nearly every way. It was smaller, and the students and teachers weren’t nearly as interesting as the ones he met in Shujin. However, that really might have been an unfair comparison considering what was going on at the time while he attended Shujin.

When the final bell rang for the day, Ren was looking forward to having some time to himself, and for his turn to give Ann her wake-up text. Tomorrow was Sunday, so he could take it easy with homework as well. He intended to make full use of this precious free time, cause he knew that after this things would get hectic with the college entrance exams right around the corner.

However, he couldn’t have realized how right he was…

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sae Niijima just stared at the documents in front of her. She was no longer a prosecutor for the SIU but instead a defense attorney. Just as she had promised Ren, she was following her own justice. However, fate seemed to have different plans.

“Niijima-san, I know that you have had a falling out with our department.” The man on the other side of the phone said. She recognized the man’s voice as the new SIU director Ryusuke Kurokawa. “However, you were the lead on these cases last time, and I know you have the most experience with this. We… no… I am begging you for your help here.”

Sae shook her head. She looked at the pictures again. A middle aged man had brutally murdered his wife and child with an axe, but it was the state of the man when the police that found him that sent chills down her spine. His eyes had rolled back in his head, and blackened blood pooled from his mouth. It was the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown episodes all over again.

“Why… that case was closed almost a year ago...” She said softly to herself.

“Do you believe this is related to the Phantom Thieves?” Ryusuke asked.

“No sir. There was no calling card. That is the Thieves’ modus operandi.” She answered quickly.

“That’s worrisome then...” came the reply. “Then we are dealing with some sort of new threat.”

Sae sighed. “I’ll take this case, Director. However, don’t think that this means that I’ve changed my mind about leaving the SIU.”

There was a hefty chuckle from the other side of the line. “I wouldn’t dream of it Niijima-san. It will be good to have you working on this though. You have the full cooperation of the SIU. Keep me in the loop.”

“I will, Director. If that’s all, I’m going to go over the case data once more.”

“Of course. I will look forward to your progress.”

There was a click as the man hung up and Sae sunk down into her chair, rubbing her forehead with a single hand. “I should ask Makoto about this… but, there’s no way it’s those kids again. They are all spread out now.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ann was ecstatic when she got off the phone. She had just gotten accepted to university. The even better part was that it was the prestigious Shibuya Gakuin University. She had been accepted into their Cultural Studies department. It would be perfect for her. She’d be back in Tokyo and close to Ren, as well as studying a relevant topic to her modeling career. Sure, photography and design would be more backstage aspects, but they could help her understand better what to work on as a model. The universities campus was practically a stone’s throw from Shujin.

She couldn’t wait to tell Ren the good news. She knew that he lived out in the country a good ways, but a two hour train ride was much easier to take than a thirteen hour flight half way around the world. However, after thinking about it for a bit, perhaps she could surprise him with the good news sometime rather than telling him right away. She’d love to see his face as he realized she’d be moving closer again.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been several weeks since Ren had finished up his college entrance exams. He was holding his acceptance letter in his hands. It was an exciting time, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one that was excited either. The old Phantom Thieves group chat was kicking as the others were congratulating each other for getting accepted into college. Or in the case of Futaba and Sumire, entering their third-year at Shujin.

“ _So, enough holding back, where’s everybody going?”_ Ryuji asked.

“ _I have received an art scholarship to Shibuya Gakuin.”_ Yusuke answered. After that there was a long pause. Ren couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“ _I just got a track scholarship to the same school!”_ Ryuji finally answered.

“ _Wait… Haru and I both are entering our second years at Shibuya Gakuin.”_ Makoto quickly responded.

“ _What wonderful coincidence.”_ Haru replied.

“ _What about you Ann?”_ Makoto asked.

“ _Well… I was planning on keeping it a surprise, but this is… I’m also going to Shibuya Gakuin and coming back to Tokyo.”_ Ann’s reply came.

Ren stopped and looked at Morgana for a long moment. “This… isn’t a dream right?” He asked his friend. Morgana just shook his head.

“It seems too good to be true doesn’t it?” Morgana replied.

Ren’s phone dinged in his hand as someone replied in the chat.

“ _Come on man, don’t leave us hanging here. Where you going Ren?”_ Ryuji asked.

“ _I too am curious about where our fearless leader is heading for the next stage of his life.”_ Yusuke chimed in.

Ren just stared at his phone for a long hard moment before finally giving a short answer.

“ _Shibuya Gakuin.”_

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sae was exhausted. She had started looking into these new mental shutdown cases a little over a month ago, and she was getting nowhere. Not only that, but the bodies were beginning to pile up. It spread farther than just Tokyo now. Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya all had reports of similar phenomenon cropping up. Ten total cases, not counting the original. Luckily, the collateral damage had been minuscule so far. Nothing like the train accident from the original spat of cases.

However, there was no rhyme or reason to any of these cases. With the first, once she had learned that Shido and his conspiracy were behind it, everything fell into place. But these were radically different people in completely different cities… A housewife in one city, a high school basketball player in another. None of it made sense. There was nothing connecting them except for the way they died.

She didn’t want to do it. It felt like it was going back on the promise that she had made to them all back when the Phantom Thieves disbanded. It was what had stopped her initial thought of asking Makoto for advice. But, she was at her wit’s end now. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through the list of contacts until she found the one she was looking for.

Once the recipient picked up and greeted her, she sighed sadly. “Hello. I hate to do this… but… I need your help.” She explained, deciding to not beat around the bush with this. “There’s been a series of incidents… and you’re the only one I can think of that might be able to piece this together, Ren.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That does it for Chapter 1. I hope anyone who reads this enjoyed the start of this. I have a rough outline of how the story will play out and where it will go, but I can't say for sure exactly how many chapters it will be or how long it will take to get there. I just hope it ends up being as fun of a ride for you all reading it as it will be for me in writing it.


	2. Home

**Chatper 2**

**Home**

  


“ _Well I’m going home,_

_Back to the place where I belong,_

_And where your love has always been enough for me.”_

  


Ren took in a deep breath as he stepped into the all too familiar space. The scent was just as he remembered it, old hardwood, coffee, curry, and just a twinge of the old man’s cologne.

  


“Are you sure? I kind of just… stuck you here cause I didn’t want to deal with you that much the first time around.” The voice came from behind him. It was the old man in question, and now a dear friend of Ren’s, Sojiro Sakura. “I have plenty of room at the house. It’s just me and Futaba after all...”

  


“This is perfect.” Ren answered. Just being back here brought back the memories of his time leading the Phantom Thieves. He chuckled as he looked at his old bed. That was probably the one thing he wasn’t looking forward to all that much. It was a bit too much on the firm side and too small. Perhaps he could fix that this time. “I see you kept it just the way I left it...”

  


Sojiro chuckled. “Futaba wouldn’t let me convert it back into storage. She still comes up here every now and then. I think she misses it, you know?”

  


“Oh, I very much know the feeling.” Ren agreed.

  


“To be honest, I don’t think I could have turned it back into storage anyway. Somehow, I don’t think it would have felt right, and I think, deep down, I knew you’d be back here sooner or later.”

  


“Thanks.” Ren said gratefully. “I won’t just freeload either. Just like last time, I’ll help around the place.”

  


“Please tell me you remember how to make decent coffee and curry. I might like you, but I swear if you serve up some subpar product to my customers, I’ll kick you right out of here and you can go stay at the dorms.” Sojiro teased.

  


It was Ren’s turn to laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of serving anything you wouldn’t be proud of. And I’ve kept my brewing and cooking skills up while back home.” He said. However, something about that felt off to him. Sure he was born in raised in that little country town, that’s where all his family was, but, why did it feel like he was just now coming home?

  


“That’s good to hear. Then I’ll make sure to...” Sojiro started, but he didn’t get to finish the sentence as the familiar bell of Leblanc’s front door chimed out.

  


“REN!!!” The cry obviously came from a young girl and Ren could easily hear the light footfalls coming quickly from down stairs.

  


“It’s already that time?” Sojiro asked.

  


Soon there was a blur of black and orange with a slight hint of red as Futaba all but tackled Ren where he stood. Her school bag flung off to the side as she crashed into him.

  


Ren was laughing as he caught her, her arms wrapping around his waist. His hand rather instinctively went to her head, patting her softly. Futaba was practically his younger sister at this point.

  


“I’m so happy that you’re back.” She told him. Ren grinned as he looked her over. She had grown a bit over the last year. Not a whole lot, but she was a bit taller than when he left. The Shujin uniform looked good on her, and he felt a bit of pride at seeing her in it. They had spent so much getting her used to people and crowds, overcoming her fears, and now he could see how much it had all paid off.

  


“I see that you’re still holding to your promise.” He said to her.

  


Futaba looked down at her school uniform and grinned. “Oh yeah, I’ve leveled up big time, I grind that dungeon daily now.”

  


Another chuckle escaped Ren. “That’s good to hear.”

  


“Sumire said that she would come by later to say hi as well if she can get out of practice early enough.” Futaba said.

  


“So… he’s the only one you’re happy to see?” Morgana’s voice came from his usual perch on the table near the stairs. Futaba unwrapped Ren and went over to the cat.

  


“Of course not, Mona.” Futaba replied. Morgana likely quickly regretted speaking up as the orange-haired girl immediately went for his cheeks and began to squeeze them.

  


“I still can’t believe that you all can actually talk to him...” Sojiro wondered aloud.

  


Futaba giggled at the strained protests that Morgana made as he tried to free himself from her clutches. Ren couldn’t help but to grin as he watched the pair bicker. Eventually, Morgana wiggled free of Futaba and immediately bolted up onto the shelves and then up into the rafters so that the girl couldn’t get a hold of him again.

  


Ren walked over to the little couch and took a seat. “So, other than Sumire. Have you made any other friends?” He asked. He would always look out for Futaba, especially now that he was back staying at Leblanc.

  


Futaba plopped herself down onto the couch and began regaling him with tales of her school life. Of course he had read most of these stories in text form already, but hearing them directly from her was special. He got to hear the happiness in her voice when she talked about the good things and some of her new friends, and the anger about bullies, or sadness when something bad had happened to her. It was something that was definitely lost in texts. So he sat and he listened, happy to lend a ear to his adopted baby sister.

  


Sojiro watched the pair for a few moments and smiled. He wasn’t actually related to either of them by blood, but that didn’t matter. If Ren’s first stay had taught him anything, it was that you didn’t have to be blood related to be family. That, and the family that you chose for yourself was often an even stronger bond than blood ties. Shaking his head, and steadfastly refusing to let a tear well up in his eye, he turned and headed back down into the cafe proper. Somebody had to watch the place just in case they had a customer, right?

  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


Ren looked at his phone. Sumire had sent him a message apologizing for not coming to meet him on his first day back in town, but her coach had pur her through the ringer and she had been exhausted. He had replied to her that it was completely alright, and they’d meet up soon anyway and that she should rest. He had met Sumire’s trainer after all, and the woman was intense, to say the least.

  


Honestly, it was all for the best. Ren had another appointment that he needed to take care of anyway. That was how he found himself in a high rise building near the central police station and courthouse, the location of Sae’s palace back then. He looked over at the door, the placard read simply Sae Niijima. It appeared that Sae, true to her word, was a solo practitioner of criminal law. He lifted his hand and knocked.

  


“Come in, Amamiya-kun.” Sae answered.

  


Turning the knob, Ren stepped inside. “Niijima-san. A pleasure.” He said to her, giving her a respectful bow of his head. The pair were formal, but friendly, Ren caught the bit of a grin on Sae’s face for a split second before she steeled her expression.

  


“Thank you for coming… when you told me you were coming back to Tokyo, I knew then that we should wait to have this conversation in person. With the… delicate nature of the information I’m about to share with you, the fewer risks the better.” She explained.

  


Ren raised a brow and fiddled with a lock of hair that just about fell in front of his eyes. A tell when he was either thinking or found whatever was happening interesting. “You have been very vague about what this is all about, Sae-san.” He stated simply. He got a nod from her in response as she opened up one of the drawers in her desk and pulled out an envelope.

  


She brought it with her to a nearby table, one surrounded by more comfortable chairs. There was no need for her to sit in the desk and try to project authority or command here. It would likely just all roll off of Ren’s back anyway, given the pure force of will that the man had.

  


“Before I show this to you...” She warned him. “You can’t tell a soul of what I’m about to share with you. This is highly classified information, and the consequences for me would be drastic if the authorities were to find out.”

  


Ren nodded. “Understood. As you know, I’m very good at keeping my secrets, and those of my friends.”

  


Sae grinned again and returned a nod. “Frustratingly so, at times.” She pulled out the envelope and spread it out onto the table. “Take a look, and tell me what you think.”

  


Ren gazed over the pictures and reports. And what he saw shook him to his core. The rolled back eyes, the blackened blood, the gruesome scenes that came with them. He shook his head. “Impossible…” He said under his breath.

  


“Eleven cases in a little under two months. It’s just like what happened with Shido and Akechi.” She frowned as she said it. “My first thought was Akechi...”

  


Ren shook his head. “He died in Shido’s Palace… There was no way that he could have gotten out of that...” However, deep down, Ren wasn’t exactly sure if that was right. Akechi was strong, even though the Phantom Thieves had put a major hurting on him. Could he have made it out?

  


Sae sighed. “That’s the conclusion I came to as well… no one has seen hide nor hair of him in over a year now. As famous as he was, there’s no way he could have just disappeared like that without being truly gone. But then that makes matters worse...”

  


“Who is doing this… and how.” Ren finished her thought. He immediately pulled out his phone. There was no Meta-Nav on it. “The only way to induce this… is to go into someone’s Palace.”

  


“And kill their Shadow. I remember your explanation.” Sae agreed.  


  


“That shouldn’t be possible… the Metaverse collapsed. After our battles with Yaldabaoth and Maruki, the Metaverse was locked away.” He answered her.

  


Sae sighed. “Well… it appears someone has found an entryway. When you explained all of this to me, you said that the Metaverse was essentially the collective unconscious of everyone right? It stands to reason that perhaps it wouldn’t be inaccessible forever, yes?”

  


Ren thought it over, but he wasn’t the expert in the Metaverse. That would be Morgana, as uncertain as he was at times. Futaba possibly could have answers, if she had followed up on her mother’s research into cognitive psience. However, he tried to piece things together based on what he knew. “It’s possible… but… the Metaverse we knew was caused by society’s overwhelming desire to social order. We upended that desire, created a rift in peoples desires. Some still desire for that oppressive order, but others have sided with the Thieves and cling to their freedom. Without that combined desire, the Metaverse should remain collapsed and inaccessible. I hardly imagine a year was enough time to resolidify the public’s desires...”

  


Sae rubbed her temple. This talk of the Metaverse and cognitive psience was a pain to try and wrap her head around. “Is there any other possible answer?” She asked him.

  


Ren couldn’t give her an answer. “I don’t know… if I still could go to the Metaverse I could maybe find answers.”

  


Sighing once more, Sae looked over the case files. “I agreed to work with the SIU again exclusively for this case.” She informed him. “I believe they already suspect that you and the Phantom Thieves are involved, but I’ve done my best to dissuade them from that thought. We have to figure out what is causing this. The current administration is keeping the incidents under wraps as much as they can, trying to prevent a repeat of what happened last time.

  


Ren nodded. “That’s likely for the best… if the public grew united in panic or any certain desire, it could possibly create another being like Yaldabaoth...” Leaning back into his chair he pulled out his phone again. “If that was to happen… we could do nothing about it, since none of us can access the Metaverse now.”

  


“We’ll have to do this the traditional way...” Sae replied. “I’ll keep you in the loop, and hopefully you’ll be able to piece things together that the police might miss. I’m sorry to drag you back into this, especially after I promised that we adults would take care of things from here on.”

  


Ren looked over at her again. “No… you have nothing to be sorry about, Sae-san. None of us could have seen this happen.”

  


Sae gave a grateful nod in return and moved to stand. “Please, let me know if anything comes to mind for you. I will do my best to track down whoever it might be who’s causing this new wave of incidents.”

  


“Thank you for informing me. I’ll do my best to help in any way I can.” Ren responded, standing as well. “I’ll let you know if I have any clues or ideas to impart. Take care, Sae-san.”

  


“You too, Ren-kun.”

  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


Over the course of the next week, Ren had reunited with all of his friends except Ann, the one he wanted to see the most. Sadly, Ann still had business in New York to take care of and a couple of shoots to do before she could come back to Tokyo. Today, however, was the day that she was due to arrive back. That was why all of the Phantom Thieves were at the airport, waiting for her.

  


“It’s so hard to believe that we’re all going to be back together again.” Ryuji said.

  


“But it is wonderful. Almost like a dream.” Haru answered with a big smile on her face.

  


“It is.” Sumire agreed. Ren had been happy to see her again as well, and see the marked improvement in her after the ordeal she had went through with her sister and Maruki. However, he knew she still hurt. It was his fault, but he had one he had loved already. She seemed to understand that, but he could tell that it still hurt her to put herself out there like that and get rejected. He still wanted to help her become everything she wanted to be, but he just couldn’t be what she desired.

  


His thoughts were broken by Futaba’s excited shout. “There she is!”

  


Ren could never mistake the woman that walked toward them. The long blonde hair and those stunningly beautiful blue eyes caught his attention immediately. Seeing her in person for the first time in months kept him stunned in place.

  


Futaba, though, had no such reaction, rushing the older girl immediately. Ann was all big smiles as Futaba gave her an affectionate hug. “I’ve missed you.” Ann told her and all the others. She shared hugs with Haru, Makoto, and Sumire as well. When she got to Ryuji and Yusuke she gazed at the pair of them for a moment before playfully slugging Ryuji on the sholder and giving Yusuke a hug as well.

  


“Why am I the only one you hit?” Ryuji complained.

  


“Cause I’m sure you deserved it.” Ann teased him back. Ren grinned. The two had always had this sort of sibling style relationship.

  


“Did not.” Ryuji answered.

  


“Oh I find that highly unlikely.” Makoto quipped and just grinned as Ryuji turned his attention to her and then sighed. Ren always imagined there was something a little more between those two than they let on, but neither of them spoke anything about it.

  


Soon enough though, Ren and Ann were face to face. She had ran the gauntlet of greeting their friends, and now the two were face to face, close enough to touch.

  


“Ren...” She started to say before Ren reached out and pulled her in close. He felt her stiffen for a moment in shock at being grabbed. But soon she relaxed and her arms slid under his and held him in return. She buried her face in his shoulder and he did the same with her hair, enjoying the floral scent of her shampoo. He closed his eyes in that moment, and everything else seemed to melt away. None of the other Thieves were there. The airport was gone, it was just the two of them, together again.

  


“I’ve missed you so much.” Ren whispered to her. His only answer was a nod into his shoulder and he could feel a slight wetness. Her tears, he immediately realized. He knew they would be coming, it was the same way when they had seen each other on their vacations.

  


Pushing away for a moment, Ren reached up for her chin, directing her face to his. She tried to look away from him, to turn her face so he wouldn’t see her tears in the moment. He couldn’t help but to smile for her. Seeing that her love was as strong for him still as his was for her filled him with a happiness that he couldn’t explain.

  


He leaned his head forward, placing his against hers. He couldn’t help himself in the moment, and with another light tug, he pulled her face up a little more and his lips found hers. One hand still cupping her cheek, the other at the small of her back, he pulled her in close. The kiss wasn’t obscene or really all that deep, but it was filled with all of his feelings for her. He heard the small squeak of surprise escape her throat, but soon he felt her lips pressing against his in return. In that moment, it felt like their desires were meeting with each other fully.

  


The moment couldn’t last forever however.

  


“That… truly is the moment of pure beauty.” Yusuke said. Ren opened his eyes to see the taller man framing their kiss with his fingers. “No… don’t move… I must capture this moment in all its exquisiteness.”

  


“Dude… I know you’re the ladykiller, but do you really have to rub it in like that?” Ryuji cut in.

  


He immediately felt Ann pull away from him. She refused to turn and look at the others, but he could see the blush on her cheeks. He could on put on one of those devious smirks that he was so good at. He looked over the others. Haru was blushing nearly as hard as Ann was. Makoto, at least, was being adult about it and had turned away to let the lovers have their privacy. Futaba had what he could only describe as a wicked grin on her face. He didn’t even want to know what she was thinking in that moment.

  


Sumire though seemed out of it. Her eyes looked at his, and he could see the sadness held in hers. It was pretty thoughtless of him to have done that right in front of her knowing that she still harbored the feelings that she did for him. He ran a hand through his hair as he gave her an apologetic look. However, she was the first to approach the two of them. She was wearing a smile that didn’t quite fully touch her eyes. “We should celebrate… a welcome home party for everyone.” She said.

  


Ann, having got her composure back turned around and nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely… I’ll just take my luggage home and then perhaps we can all head to the Wilton Hotel?”

  


“Aren’t you exhausted from the plane trip?” Makoto asked. “We can wait until tomorrow.”

  


“A little yeah… but I slept most of the way over… and the last thing I want to do is just… go home and sleep or lay around.” Ann answered.

  


“That settles that then, to the Wilton!” Futaba said happily.

  


Yusuke frowned. “I don’t have enough money for such a luxurious dinner.

  


Ann giggled. “I will cover it for you, Yusuke. I’ve made plenty from my modeling gigs in America.”

  


“In that case, I will graciously accept your hospitality. I promise you that I will return your money as soon as I can.” Yusuke thanked her.

  


“Alright, this is what I’m talking about… I’m going to get all the meat that I can handle.” Ryuji pumped a fist before exchanging high fives with Futaba.

  


“You’re an athlete again… don’t you think you should be eating a more balanced diet?” Makoto chided him. Ryuji gave her a sad puppy dog look.

  


“It’s a special occasion, it’ll be alright. I’ll just run it off later.” He told her.

  


Makoto couldn’t help but to grin at him. “Alright, just don’t complain to us when it backfires.”

  


\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


  


Ren laid down in his bed and gazed over at Morgana. He hadn’t been able to smuggle his friend into the airport, but he had managed to get Morgana into the buffet. “That was wonderful.” He said to the cat.

  


“It really was, wasn’t it. It felt like we were celebrating after stealing someone’s treasure.” Morgana said happily, licking his paw and rubbing his head with it, cleaning himself.

  


Ren nodded. “I really have missed it.” He told Morgana. “It’s going to be nice, all of us going to school together… seeing everyone again. I honestly can’t wait for university to start.” Futaba and Sumire were already back in school, but the university didn’t have their first classes for another week.

  


“You better not slack off though just to hang out with your friends.” Morgana warned.

  


Ren scoffed. “Do I look like Ryuji?” He said before leaning over and petting Morgana. “Good night.”

  


“Good night.” Morgana answered.

  


Sleep came quickly for Ren after the excitement of the day. However, his dreams here entirely not what he was expecting.

  


He opened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar room. The walls were cushioned with what looked like blue velvet, which immediately put him on edge. He looked down at himself, and for some reason he was wearing his old Phantom Thief outfit. He quickly looked around and then saw a door. He moved to the door and opened it.

  


What he saw next came as a complete shock. His room opened out into what looked like prison block. Below him were rows of cells all in a circle. He then looked up, there were other rooms, just like his, all around the top row of the circular structure.

  


Even more surprisingly, each one of the Phantom Thieves stepped out of a room, all of them back into their Thief attire. They all stared at each other in bewilderment for a moment before a single blue butterfly caught Ren’s attention, he followed it down to the floor of the massive room.

  


There in the center of the room sat an old man behind a large desk. Ren knew his long nose and bugged out eyes immediately. He truly was back. When the bizarre old man began to speak, Ren immediately recognized the rather odd soft-spoken voice of the man.

  


“Welcome, Thieves, back to the Velvet Room.” Igor greeted them.


	3. Good at Being Bad

**Chapter 3**

**Good at Being Bad**

“ _And we’ve stolen every Treasure that we ever had in view._

_And we taunt to flaunt our power that we all have over you._

_Brought the city to its knees with every witty scheme we had._

_We achieved another dream when it seemed we’d fallen bad._

_We became the greatest team that this world has ever had._

_And the only thing we’re guilty of is… We’re just good at being bad.”_

It took a few moments for all of the Thieves to make their way down to the bottom level of the prison. Joker looked around for a moment. It all looked exactly as he remembered it, except for that ring of seemingly normal rooms that ringed the top now. Even so, it felt so good to be back. He raised his right hand and adjusted the glove with his left.

“Senpai?” Violet asked as she came to his side. “Where… are we?”

“I forgot… you’ve never been here, huh.” Skull answered her question. He began to open his mouth for a more detailed explanation, or at least a Skull explanation.

“I believe I can answer that.” A young girl’s voice interrupted him. “The Velvet Room is a place between the conscious and subconscious, mind and matter, dream and reality. I am Lavenza, a denizen of this place, and this is my master Igor. I apologize for speaking for him, but his power still hasn’t quite returned yet from events past.”

Violet looked over at Lavenza with an odd look. “I see… I think.” She stated. “So this place… is like a Palace?”

“Not exactly… though similar in a way.” Lavenza said.

“None of this still makes any damned sense...” Skull muttered before yelping as he got elbowed in the side by Queen.

The silver haired girl then continued on. “My Trickster… something has gone wrong.” She was speaking fully to Joker. The worried look on her face was disconcerting. Even throughout the fight with Yaldabaoth and Maruki, she never seemed truly shaken or distraught. “Not long after our last meeting, Master and I felt a presence…”

“A presence?” Queen asked, to get a nod in return from Lavenza.

“The Metaverse as you knew it should have collapsed, and likely should have been inaccessible to anyone for several years, if not longer. Enough time for my Master to regain his strength.” Lavenza explained further. “But… something has forced the Metaverse open. It is not natural.”

“Wait… what… forced it open?” Panther replied with a question.

“Yes, though we know not what it is.” Lavenza answered. “But… It could only mean something is happening...”

Joker shifted his feet and frowned. He looked at the others. “I wonder if this has anything to do with the new mental shutdown cases...”

Everyone looked back at him in shock.

“New cases?” Noir asked.

Joker nodded. “Sae called me about a month ago, asking for help.” He looked over at Queen. He would have thought at the woman would have let her sister know something.

Queen gave him a knowing look, reading what he was thinking in the moment. “She said she was working with the SIU again on something important, but wouldn’t tell me what. I live in my own place now, so… I haven’t been able to really snoop.”

Joker nodded once more. “Over the last couple of months, there have been eleven new cases of mental shutdowns.”

“You don’t think it’s Akechi again do you?” Oracle inquired. Joker shook his head.

“We all saw what happened to him, and how he disappeared after we dispelled Doctor Maruki’s false world.” He said.

“It’s possible, that whatever has caused the Metaverse to remain open… has created new Persona users.” Lavenza said. “My Master and I have spent much of our remaining energy to bring all of you back.”

Igor nodded. “Go forth, and discover the truth, wherever it may lead.”

The Phantom Thieves looked back at each other. Mona was the one that hopped up to the front of the group though.

“We’ll do everything we can Master, Lady Lavenza.” Mona assured her. Joker nodded in agreement.

“I suppose this means that the Phantom Thieves are back in business?” Fox asked.

“Hell yeah!” Skull exclaimed.

“Are we sure about this?” Queen asked.

“I… admit, I have missed the adventure.” Noir told her.

“I think we have all missed it, even you Queen.” Panther said with a grin.

Queen matched the grin with her smirk. “I guess I have at that.”

Joker pulled out his phone out of his long black jacket’s pocket. “It’s back.” He told the others, and showed his screen to the others, showing that the Meta-Nav app was back on his phone.

“For real? Then we really are back in business.” Skull grinned.

Joker was actually smiling and looked back to Igor and Lavenza, and he gave the pair a bow with a rather excessive amount of flair.

“Take care of your bonds, Thieves.” Igor gave one more warning. “You will need their strength to weather whatever storm lies ahead.”

The Phantom Thieves then felt themselves being pulled away. Joker was used to the feeling, returning to normal sleep from the Velvet Room had taken a little getting used to, just like being pulled into it did.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ _It’s really back… that wasn’t just a dream.”_ Ren woke up to the text message the next morning from Ryuji.

“ _We all were there right, we really are the Phantom Thieves again?”_ Ann responded to the group chat.

“ _I feel like this is different.”_ Makoto stated, _“We’re not flying blind and just changing the hearts of whoever we want… we have a larger goal this time.”_

“ _Perhaps, though, we could help people while we are at it? Besides we don’t know where to start, do we?”_ Haru asked.

“ _This is true… and if there really is a new Akechi running around, we do need to stop whoever it is.”_ Makoto responded.

“ _I will do my best to bring out the most of our calling cards. Each one will be a work of exquisite art.”_ Yusuke threw out there.

“ _Inari and his art… anyway, this is going to be awesome. I’m sure we’ll clear everything. We are a max level party with high-end raid loot, after all.”_ Futaba cheered.

Ren rubbed his eyes. Everyone was way too excited for this early in the morning,  though he couldn’t really blame them.  He was excited too. This was what he had dreamed of for months now. A chance to be Joker once again. However, he agreed with Makoto. This felt like it was going to be different. Last time they mostly just were going with the flow until the death of Haru’s father, now though, they have a goal from the start.

“ _We’ll use Leblanc as our hideout again, since it is normal for us all to gather here anyway. Keep your eyes and ears open. I’m going to talk to Sae again and see if there’s anything else I can learn from her.”_ Ren texted them all. He was also planning on telling her that the Thieves were back in business as well. If they pooled their resources, it should make things easier.

“ _Sounds like a plan then. Let us know when something comes up.”_ Ryuji replied.

Sliding up off his bed, Ren rolled his neck and looked around the attic. He definitely needed to get a new bed, that was going to be priority number one as soon as he had the money. Luckily, if they were going to be the Phantom Thieves again, he was about to have an influx of money from the Metaverse.

After he got dressed, he headed downstairs. As usual, Sojiro was already there and his usual spot at the bar had a plate of curry and a coffee. Ren couldn’t help but to smile brightly at the sight.

“Oh yeah, definitely missed this.” Ren said as he took a seat, Morgana perching up on the seat beside him.

Sojiro grinned. “I figured you would like it. You still got another week or so before classes, right?”

Ren nodded. “Things are going to be really busy.” He looked up a Sojiro for a moment, a slight smirk on his lips.

“I know that look. What trouble are you getting into?” Sojiro said, giving his best stern look.

Ren knew that Sojiro deserved to know what was going on as well. He took a sip of coffee and then looked at the man. “The Phantom Thieves are back in business.” He said simply.

Sojiro did not look best pleased by that. It meant both his adoptive daughter, and practical son, were going to be involved in something deathly dangerous. “I thought all of that was over.”

Ren nodded. “I did too… but… it looks like things didn’t go the way we planned.” He stated simply. “I know it’s not something you want us to be doing, especially Futaba.”

“You damn well got that right.”

Ren sighed. “I’ll look after her, Sojiro. She’s never in combat or danger. I’ll make sure of it.”

“It’s not just her I worry about, idiot.”

Ren looked up at Sojiro and could see the concern in the man’s face. He was left speechless in the moment. The man really did care for him. Ren knew that, but it was always something else to see it. Especially when his actual birth parents never seemed to care that much. Hell they hadn’t even ever called him once when he was in Tokyo the first time around after all.

He looked to his curry and took a bite. “Thank you, Sojiro. That means a lot… and I know it’ll be rough for you too.” He gave the man that determined look. Sojiro knew that look, and it meant that Ren wasn’t going to be backing down no matter what. “But only we can do this.” Ren told him. “Something is happening. I’m not sure what, but something big is coming… and we’re the only ones that can stop it.”

“Teenagers shouldn’t have to shoulder all this burden on their own.”

“We aren’t… that’s why I told you… and Sae is going to helping us as much as she can too, I imagine. It won’t be like last time.”

Sojiro stared at Ren’s steely gray eyes and the determined look they held before letting out a long sigh of defeat. “Alright, alright… I’m still going to worry about the lot of you. Just… if there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”

Ren gave the older man a genuine, loving smile and nodded. “I absolutely will.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sae looked up from her work when she heard the knock on her office door. She wasn’t expecting anyone today. She still had her hands full with the new mental shutdown cases. She moved to her door and opened it.

Standing there, as calm as ever was Ren. He gave her a nod in greeting. “May I?” He asked.

“Please… I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon though… have you already found something?” She asked him. Moving with him, they took their usual seats at her table.

Ren shook his head. “No. However, something has come up. I think though, that we’ll be more of a help now though.”

Sae narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

“The Phantom Thieves are back.” He said simply. “At least for now. Something has stopped the collapse of the Metaverse, and whatever it is...”

“Might be tied into these new cases… is that what you think?”

Ren nodded. “Yes. I felt that you should know. We will be investigating in the Metaverse.”

Sae sighed. “Be careful. The director of the SIU was already suspicious of you, and the police are still looking for any reason to put you back behind bars. The Phantom Thieves really upstaged them, and they still haven’t forgotten about it.”

Ren grinned, “We’ll be able to handle ourselves, I think. It’s not like the police were ever able to catch us on their own anyway. We’re too good at it.”

Sae shook her head. “That’s not the point. One little thing goes wrong, and they’ll fabricate any evidence they need. You know they will.”

Ran frowned. He definitely knew. He had been forced to sign that confession during their plan to fake his death after all. “We’ll be extra careful.”

“Good… now, if you all really are going to be taking the investigation into the Metaverse, then I’ll do my best from this side. Hopefully together we’ll be able to piece this together before anyone else gets hurt.”

“That’s the plan. My initial thought is that there have to be another Persona user out there… another Akechi. So we need to find whatever link we can between all the victims.” Ren said.

“That’s just the thing though. There’s no links...” Sae sighed, she leaned back rubbing her temples. “I’ve dug and clawed at all the info… none of the victims seemed to know each other, never have crossed paths… even the ones in the same cities seem disconnected.”

Ren frowned again. “It could be possible that we’re looking at multiple assailants?”

Sae nodded. “That’s my best explanation right now… but if so, that makes all of this much more difficult. It could be one person just targeting randomly, but with the distance between victims… I’m much more willing to place my bets on at least two or three perpetrators, if not more.”

“That is worrying… but we’ll track them down and put a stop to this.” Ren told her. And hopefully, they’ll find answers about whatever this entity is that has Igor and Lavenza so worries as well. He laced his fingers together and leaned forward. Closing his eyes he tried to imagine what some invisible assailants move might be.

“Ren?”

Ren tuned Sae out for the moment. He mustered up the tactics he had learned from Hifumi, reading and reacting to his opponent’s strategy. There just wasn’t enough rhyme or reason to the attacks yet, or enough info to make any solid deductions. “Damn it… I was hoping we would have some sort of idea of where to start… I guess… we’ll have to do our usual thing for now.”

“What do you mean?” Sae asked.

“If we go back to doing what we were doing before, I’m sure we’ll draw the attention of these other Persona users. They’ll probably come after us, to eliminate a threat. Or, if we’re lucky, they’re simply new and unaccustomed to what’s happening and seek training. It’s the best thing we can do, until we have a more solid lead.” Ren explained.

Sae brought a hand up to her chin and thought about the plan before nodding. “We have a lack of options at this stage, sadly. This may be the best way to proceed for now. This is definitely going to get the police riled up again, though.”

Ren found he didn’t mind the thought of that very much. It was going to be exciting to start this cat and mouse game once more. “I promise we’ll be careful. If we dig anything up, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Thank you. Good luck and be safe.” Sae wished him well before seeing him out of her office.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ann gazed at herself in the mirror of the boutique, her usual hangout in the underground mall at Shibuya. She kept messing with her outfit, a blue sundress that really matched the color of her eyes. The dress had immediately caught her eye when she had went shopping right before coming back to Tokyo, and she loved it. However, as she waited for her date to show up, she found herself growing more and more nervous. Before, they always just hung out in their school uniforms or in their casual everyday wear. She had decided to change it up a little this time though.

“I hope he likes this...” She said to herself as she looked at her long blonde hair. It fell down her back in waves, ending just above the small of her back. As she thought about it, she had never been around Ren without her hair up. It only increased the worry.

“Are you okay?” A kindly older woman said. She was wearing the boutiques uniform, so obviously an employee and was looking at Ann through the mirror.

Ann startled for a moment and spun around to face the woman. “Oh… yes, I’m fine. Just… pre-date jitters.” She explained.

The kind-faced woman just gave her a smile. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, dear. You look stunning.”

“I’ll second that opinion.” A smooth voice called out, approaching from the entrance. Ann turned her head to see Ren standing there. Ann couldn’t help but to eye him over. His hair was it’s usual stylish mess. He was wearing his usual open black jacket, but instead of the usual worn jeans he had on black slacks and dress shoes. His white undershirt was also a nice button-up this time.

As she fully turned to face him, Ren stopped. It was easy to tell that he was giving her the same look that she had given him. She blushed slightly, but let him get a full look. “What do you think?” She asked.

“Stunning...” He answered, moving to her. He gave the older woman a kind smile as well before she left to continug working. “Your hair looks great.” He said as he ran a light hand through the waves.

Ann had to fight to get her mouth and voice to even work properly. “You are looking handsome yourself. I always knew you’d clean up real nice.”

Ren chuckled and the hand in her hair slid down and laced fingers with one of her. He used his free arm to adjust his ever present bag on his shoulder. “Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.” He said to her. “I was glad that you had the time.”

“I’ll make time for you, Ren.” Ann said to him. “It was nice seeing everyone again, but just some time with the two of us is what I’ve missed the most.”

“I know the feeling.” Ren responded, clutching her hand a bit more tightly. “I plan on making the most of this.” He told her.

Just that promise had Ann’s pulse racing with imagining just what Ren had planned. As he lightly tugged at her hand, she followed him from the boutique. She couldn’t help but just gaze up at his face, and the light smirk he wore. He knew the effect he had on her, and was enjoying it way too much. He was such a tease at times.

“First off, our reservation for dinner isn’t for another hour… so we have time to kill for a little bit. I know you love some shopping, so I thought we could head out to Harajuku for a bit. If you’d like.” Ren suggested. “Or if you have anything else you’d like to do, I’m all ears.”

Ann thought about it for a bit and then nodded. She was never one to turn down some good shopping. And she hadn’t had a chance to head back to Harajuku yet since coming back to Tokyo. “That sounds good to me.”

Ren escorted her to the train station and it wasn’t too long before they were in Harajuku. At that point, Ren was just along for the ride, letting Ann drag him around from store to store. However, the smile never left his face. Just watching her and all her boundless, happy energy was enough for him. He helped her pick things out, gave his opinion whenever asked, and was more than happy to pay for whatever she wanted to buy.

The hour felt like it passed too fast, but he had to pull her away from her shops and get them on their way to dinner.

Ann wasn’t ready for where Ren took her. The restaurant wasn’t as nice as the one that they had went to on White Day just before they had all parted ways, but it was amazing in its own way. The place was small, practically invisible from the street in Shibuya. However, the restaurant had the feeling of exclusivity to it. All the dinner guests were dressed up a bit. She understood now why he had asked her to dress on the nicer side this evening.

“How did you even know about this place?” Ann asked as they sat at their table. There was no menus given to them as she looked around. The table was small, obviously meant for an intimate date for two. As were all the other tables. It then dawned on her that she was in a room with a bunch of other couples on dates.

“A recommendation from a friend.” Ren replied with a grin. Sojiro Sakura had come up big for him yet again. He’d have to do something nice for the Boss sometime to show his appreciation. “I hope that salmon is okay with you. This place only serves one dinner per night, everyone gets the same thing.”

“That’s more than fine.” Ann said happily. She never could have imagined coming to a place like this. The place was quiet, soft music filled the space between whispered conversations between lovers. It really felt like the kind of place a couple in a movie or something would come to, not something that actually existed in real life. After taking a moment to look around, she returned to her own date, and to the sudden realization that Ren was quietly watching her intently. “Is something… something wrong?” She asked him.

“Nothing at all.” Ren answered. “Everything is perfect.” He reached out and grabbed her hand again. “I was just finding myself enamored with the most perfect part of it all.”

Ann blushed heavily at the teasing, complimentary words. She loved the attention though. “It is wonderful.” She said to him. The warm smile that graced her lips made all the effort worth it for Ren as he nodded and they just enjoyed the moment.

Before long, their food arrived and the couple enjoyed their delicious meal in relative peace, at least after Ann was done exclaiming how delicious everything was, much to Ren’s enjoyment. Once the desserts came out, though, Ren really got what he had paid for. Giving Ann a sweet treat and then watching her enjoy it was an entirely different experience. Her eyes lit up and she looked like a kid in a candy store as she enjoyed the cookie that was topped with vanilla ice cream. Ren even gave her most of his own dessert, just so he could enjoy watching her eat it.

Once the dinner was over, there was one more place to go. “There’s still more?” Ann asked as Ren led her through Shibuya and back to the train station.

“Just one more place… I think the best place to end this date.” He said to her with a loving, but mischievous, grin. “I think you’ll figure it out soon.”

He wasn’t lying as they stepped off the train in Odaiba and he lead her to the seaside park. She saw the Ferris wheel. She looked over at him and he grinned back at her. “I couldn’t think of anywhere better to spend our first date now that we’re reunited, than the place we really went on our first date.” He said to her.

“Ren...” She said softly as he led her to the ride. “I remember… It was after my photo shoot with Mika and I wanted to see the city… but never even took in the sights...”

“I still remember why.” Ren said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Because all I could see was you.” Ann reminisced as they stepped onto the gondola and took their seats.

“If you only knew how happy that made me.” Ren told her. “During those long months over this last year when we were apart, I’d just remember that moment, and it would carry me through.”

As they sat down and the Gondola began to move, Ann looked out of the gondola and to the city skyline. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yes it is.” Ren answered. “Made only more so by the fact that I’m seeing you admire it.”

Ann blushed heavily again and then turned to look at Ren. He wasn’t even looking out of the gondola, his eye’s affixed solely on her. At some point, while she wasn’t looking, he had removed his glasses, and gave her a perfect look at his stormy gray eyes. She could see the affection held in them, the love, and it struck her speechless in the moment.

She stumbled over trying to find something, anything to say in response, but nothing came to her. Another of those devilish smirks came across Ren’s lips before he leaned in closer to her. He brought up a hand and placed a finger on her lips to silence her before leaning in to kiss her.

Ann leaned into him as she was kissed, and unlike the one that he had sprung on her when they first reunited a few days ago, she wasn’t caught off guard.

It felt simultaneously like a blissful eternity and barely just a moment before they heard the speaker come to life with the announcement that the gondola would be returning to the platform for them to get off the ride. They didn’t break the kiss though. Instead, Ann pushed forward. She could tell she caught Ren off guard with that, and he found himself practically leaning on his back with Ann draped over him as their gondola descended.

“Forever, right?” She asked him, still practically laying on top of him, pinning him down.

Ren gazed up at her and grinned. “Always.” He assured her.

The pair of them had to quickly had to straighten themselves out as the gondola returned to the platform. They didn’t quite make it though, and got some knowing and somewhat scandalous looks from the people operating the ride and some other patrons waiting their turn.

Ren made her forget all about that though, as he grabbed her hand and helped her out and quickly got them away from the staring eyes. “I love you.” He said to her. “I hope we get to spend much more time like this...” He said.

Ann was all smiles as they were walking back to head home. “I do too.” She said to him. “I love you too… I feel like the luckiest girl sometimes...”

“I think that’s my line...” Ren responded as his phone buzzed. “My girlfriend is a rather famous model, after all.” However, he stopped dead in his tracks as he read the message that came through his phone.

“What’s wrong?” Ann asked.

“It’s Sae… she’s saying to check the news.” Ren answered.

Ann was on top of it immediately, pulling out her own phone from her purse and loading up her news app. She had installed it to originally try to look for new targets, and never bothered getting rid of it. “Oh… my god...” She gasped as she gazed at the headline. “Ren… Ren… look.”

She showed the headline to Ren. “Phantom Thieves victims found dead.” Ren read the headline. “You… can’t be serious...”

Ann took her phone back and clicked the link. She read the first little bit of the story. “Police have confirmed that Suguru Kamoshida, Ichiryusai Madarame, Junya Kaneshiro, and Masayoshi Shido, the highly publicized criminals that were caught by the mysterious Phantom Thieves group have all been found dead in their prison cells today. Police have officially stated that each man had died of illness or natural causes...”

Ren looked over at Ann. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

Ann nodded in agreement. “You think it was… whoever is causing the shutdowns?”

It was Ren’s turn to nod. “The question is why go after them?”

Ann frowned. This was not at all how she wanted her date to end. It had been such a wonderful evening until now. And she could tell that their hopes to get to spend a lot more alone time together were likely not to come true any time in the near future. Whatever or whoever it was causing all of this had to be stopped.


	4. Warriors

**Chapter 4**

**Warriors**

“ _As a child, you would wait and watch from far away_

_But you always knew that you’d be the one to work while they all play_

_And you, you’d lay awake at night and scheme_

_Of all the things that you would change, but it was just a dream.”_

The emergency meeting happened quicker than Ren imagined it would. It was late when they all had gotten the news, but now, in the waking hours of the next morning, All of the Phantom Thieves were present plus Sojiro, it was his cafe after all, and Sae, whom Rem invited himself. They all needed to get on the same page.

“What the hell just happened?” Ryuji asked the gathered people.

“I feel it’s rather clear… someone is either calling us out, or they’re trying to put the idea out there that we are at fault for these new cases.” Makoto answered.

“This is BULLSHIT!” Ryuji slammed a fist on the table.

“I’ve already gotten inquiries from the SIU director… he wants to bring you in immediately.” Sae answered, looking at Ren. He was the only confirmed member of the Phantom Thieves.

“No way! We’ve been through all of this shit once, not again.” Ryuji looked at her with visible anger.

“Anger isn’t going to help, but I understand your frustration.” Ren said, placing a hand on Ryuji’s shoulder and sharing a worried look with Ann. He couldn’t go back to juvenile hall. Luckily, he was only 18, and still wouldn’t be tried as an adult yet, but even then, it wasn’t something he wanted to go through again. “I have a rock solid alibi though. I was with Ann practically all night, in public. Plenty of people can verify our locations.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Ann quickly spoke up. “We even had reservations...”

Sae nodded. “I’ll relay that information… I hope it’ll be enough to keep the director satisfied for now… but I imagine he’s still going to be having a very very close eye on you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ren said. “Best behavior, promise.”

“But… how did they do this? We closed those Palaces, the Shadows went back to the real selves...” Yusuke looked down. The artist was particularly distraught. While the man had to be punished for his crimes, Yusuke never wanted Madarame dead. Even now, he didn’t truly hate the man.

“Inari...” Futaba said softly, there was a touch of affection in how she said the term that she usually tried to annoy him with.

“We did see them all in the Mementos Depths… in the prison.” Haru said.

“So… it’s possible that they tracked them down in Mementos… when we defeated Yaldabaoth, I imagine the prison ceased to be, releasing the trapped shadows back into Mementos.” Makoto extrapolated.

“Mementos itself though shouldn’t exist, the collective unconscious shouldn’t be in harmony enough for it to exist right now.” Morgana said.

“We should check it out later, but there’s something I’m more worried about.” Makoto said. “They’re targeting our former enemies, people whose hearts we changed...”

“And there’s two that they’ve missed.” Sae finished her statement for her. “Futaba, and myself.”

“Wait, whoever is doing this might come after Futaba?” Sojiro asked.

Sae shook her head. “All the victims though were the publicized ones. Absolutely no one outside of this room knows that Futaba received a change of heart.”

“Not to mention, she no longer has a Shadow because she has a Persona, so they couldn’t do the things to her that they’ve done to the others.” Morgana clarified.

Sae and Sojiro looked at the others questioningly. Futaba looked up. “Mona said that they can’t get me, because I have a Persona now, not a Shadow.” Ren looked over and saw that Sojiro let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“But… Sis...” Makoto said softly. She gazed at Sae in worry

Sae looked down, bringing a hand to her chin. “I have no such protections. However, my case was never publicized either, I only told a small handful of people in the prosecutor’s office… people I thought I could trust at the time.”

“People in Shido’s conspiracy.” Ren sighed. “That… does not make me exactly confident.”

“Ren… please...” Ann said softly. He had been rather blunt with his words there.

“No… he’s right. Harsh as it is, we have to assume that the info can be, or has already been leaked.” Sae said.

“No…” Makoto gasped.

“We just have to find her Shadow in Mementos, right? And protect her there?” Ryuji said.

“We have no idea who we’re up against, and we’d have to protect her 24/7.” Futaba said. “That’s easier said than done. That’s if we can even find her… there’s no telling what sort of chaotic state Mementos is in right now.”

Ren frowned and pulled out his phone. Whoever was doing this was forcing the Metaverse to remain open. And something wasn’t sitting right with him. There was a big difference between Sae and all their other targets.

“Ren? Hello? You’re awfully quiet.” Ann asked.

“That’s kinda normal isn’t it?” Ryuji responded. Ann shot him an annoyed look for a moment.

“He does look like he has something on his mind though.” Haru noted.

Ren nodded. “We never actually stole your Treasure.”

“What?” Several of the thieves asked in unison.

“We never closed her Palace. She changed her own heart, but...” Ren kept explaining.

“You think… Sis’s Palace might still be around, but her desires aren’t distorted anymore.” Makoto stated, to earn a head shake from Ren.

Sae raised a brow. “That’s true, I no longer strive to win at all costs.”

“The rules have changed from before.” Ren reminded them. “That means that we have to rethink everything that we thought we knew. He brought up the Meta-Nav and laid it on the table. He then looked at the others for a long moment before pressing the button for them to put in their target.

“Sae Niijima.” He stated simply.

“Candidate found.” The app responded.

“What? Really?!” Ryuji exclaimed while the others all gasped. Sae’s Palace was still around.

“So… this is how it works then?’ Sae asked. Makoto looked over at her and nodded.

“Yes… we need a name, a place, and a distortion...” She said. “Should we just try what worked before?”

Ren nodded. “Courthouse.”

“Candidate found.” came the answer again.

There was a look of concern and worry among all the others. However, not wanting to drag things out any longer, Sae took control of the situation. She had heard the story from Ren, after all.

“Casino.” She said, getting a look from the others.

“Candidate found. Begin Navigation?” The app asked.

“No.” Ren stated. They were too far from the courthouse to begin the navigation now.

“I can’t believe it… it’s still there...” Makoto said.

“Doesn’t this make things better for us, though?” Yusuke inquired. “We now know where her shadow is… we don’t have to track her down in Mementos.”

“Perhaps, but… the Palace probably will still see us as enemies… which means we’ll have to fight our way to her.” Morgana said, “And we can’t steal her treasure and close the Palace.”

“It’ll just send her shadow to Mementos...” Makoto reasoned. “Things are very complicated...”

Sae looked at the others. “Then we shouldn’t waste any time, right? We should go now. Not to mention the true assailants are still out there and could make their move at any moment.”

“We?” Ren asked her.

“I’m going with you of course. This involves me, and I won’t just sit on the sidelines again.” Sae answered. “Besides, from what I remember you telling me, I’ll make your trip much easier. I’m the proprietor of that casino after all, correct?”

“Sis… wait...” Makoto said with concern, remembering her own first trip into a palace without her Persona.

“No… this… might actually work. If she is with us, then the security should let us stroll right in.” Morgana agreed.

Ren nodded. He then looked over at Sae, “Just be careful, the Metaverse can be dangerous when you’re not used to it.”

The Phantom Thieves found themselves back in the familiar place, but things were wrong. The Casino was there, but it was not at all what they remembered. The shining, glittering casino now looked run down. The signs were full of burnt out bulbs and the building looked like it was run down.

Sae stepped forward as she looked at the building. “So this is the world of my heart?” She asked the others.

“Yes...” Queen answered. “But… it’s different than last time.”

“How so?” Sae inquired.

“Well… how do I put this… it didn’t look this… crappy.” Skull responded, only to yelp when Queen smacked him upside the head. “S-Sorry.”

Sae nodded. “Perhaps it has something to do with my own cognition then… winning is no longer the most important thing… and a Casino that doesn’t win loses money.”

“You’re taking this all rather well.” Joker said. “You sure you’re alright?”

“Of course. Let’s keep going.” Sae replied and headed to move into the Casino.

The other Phantom Thieves gave each other worried looks but they quickly followed Sae into the Casino. The interior was much the same as the inside. The layout didn’t seem to change, but everything seemed run down. As Morgana predicted though, the Shadows guarding the place didn’t attack them as they stuck with Sae. They headed towards the elevator to head up to the upper floors when they were greeted with a familiar face.

Shadow Sae stood at the elevator with a smirk on her face. “This is very much a surprise.” She said as the true Sae drew closer to her.

“Careful...” Ren warned.

The Shadow Sae rolled her eyes. “Please… if anything happens to her, I die too, there’s not a chance I’m going to do anything to her. Or any of you. I learned my lesson last time.”

The Phantom Thieves relaxed a bit as they watched Sae look over her Shadow self.

“Dear Lord… what am I wearing...” She said.

There was a chuckle from the Shadow. “I should say the same of you. Come, I believe we have some things to discuss. Would you all mind waiting?”

Joker nodded. It’s not like they had anything else they could do at that moment. They had come to get a read on the situation. He looked over his team and gave them a slight nod. “Alright, let’s let them have their conversation. Take it easy for now.”

Violet approached him as the others slowly scattered to find their own places of rest. Joker wanted to head over to spend what time he could with Panther, but as the leader, he had to make time for all of his team.

“Something wrong, Violet?” He asked.

“Not really, Joker-senpai.” She answered him. “I’m just… still getting my bearings. I was only here for a very short time last time around. I understand what all is happening, I think, but I’m still just getting my head around it all.”

Joker nodded. “I understand that.” He said, guiding her to a nearby cushioned bench. He sat with her, giving Panther an apologetic look in the moment. “You were really only with us for Maruki’s Palace. Not really enough time to get as used to all of this as everyone else. If you need any help with anything, just let me know.”

She looked over at him and smiled, nodding. “I will, thank you.” She then fidgeted slightly. “Are we sure this is the right way to go about things? I mean, we can’t be sure they know about Sae-san, and they could be hurting someone else right now...”

Joker nodded. “You’re right, but this is our best lead at the moment. We have to trust that everything will work out.”

Sae rode up the elevator with her Shadow, and soon they came up to the highest level of the building. Following her other self’s lead, they headed into an office. She figured it was the manager’s office or something similar.

Once alone inside, her Shadow turned to her. “You can skip the pleasantries, I know everything you know, that there are people out there probably gunning for me. I won’t go down without a fight though. I’ve also beefed up the security. Your friends are lucky they brought you along, or they’d have had a lot tougher time than they did the first time.”

Sae nodded. “That’s good to know.” She looked around the room. Much to her surprise, the Casino aesthetic was mostly gone here. Instead she saw things that looked familiar but twisted, photos of her childhood and school days, items she used to own.

“I’m really frustrated with you though.” Shadow Sae spoke abruptly. “Aren’t you furious?” She stared daggers at Sae. “We were supposed to win, to fight, but now we can’t do anything. Look at this place! We’ve been on a losing streak ever since those brats came in here, and it’s really starting to show.”

Sae looked at her. “Things change. People can change. Us included.” It felt weird to be talking to herself like this, but it was what it was.

The Shadow practically growled. “Just because we can change doesn’t stop us from needing to win!” She shouted. “You promised that kid, right? That the adults would take care of things now, but where in the hell are we now?”

Sae was left stunned. “What… what are you getting at?”

“You know what I’m getting at. All this Metaverse stuff came piling onto us, and you went right back to relying on that kid and his friends. They’re scary and good, I’ll give them that, but we’re losing to them now?! How in the hell can we win, when we can’t keep a single promise?” The Shadow berated her again.

“What could we do? We don’t have their power. As much as I hate to admit it, we need them.” Sae said.

“Bullshit. And you know it.” The Shadow Sae answered before their discussion was interrupted.

“Boss!” A cry came over the radio. “We have intruders!”

“What?” Shadow Sae answered, “Where?” However, the other side of the line was dead.

Sae gave her shadow a concerned look. “What’s going on?”

“Hell if I know, but whoever is causing trouble will learn not to mess with me.”

Joker was still sitting with Violet when the practical army of Shadows passed them and rushed out somewhere else.

“What is going on?” She asked.

Getting to his feet immediately, Joker could feel the tension rising. Security was tightening up. “Someone’s here… someone other than us.”

“Could it be them?” Violet asked. Joker nodded.

The other Thieves quickly gathered up around them. Joker looked at the others. “Oracle, head up the elevator. Work with the Casino’s Security. Fox, Violet, and Noir go with her. Protect her and Sae. Mona, I want you to Navi for me, Skull, Panther, and Queen.”

“What’s the plan Joker?” Mona asked.

“We’re going to go greet whoever it is that’s infiltrating this place, personally.” Joker said. “Everyone understand?

Nodding, the Phantom Thieves leaped into action. Joker and his group headed out in the direction that the Shadows were heading, meanwhile Oracle and the others headed up to meet the Saes and render the assistance they could from there.

With the combined efforts of Oracle and Mona it didn’t take long for them to find the disturbance, not to mention that the perpetrators didn’t do much to hide themselves. In the main lobby were four people, and it was clear from their attire that they weren’t shadows.

One of them had a mask that was nothing but featureless white, not even eye holes in it. The only thing bared was his mouth. He was wearing a pure white tuxedo with long tails. Everything was an immaculate, pristine white, even the blade of the long sword that he wielded was a pure white. The man sliced through two shadows like they were nothing, moving incredibly quickly.

He wasn’t the only one either, there were three others as well. And each stood out just as much. There was an absolutely huge man with them. He had to be 6’6” or taller, and was absolutely ripped, not to mention that it was clear to see that whoever the man was, he wasn’t Japanese, or like Panther, was a mix of some sort. His blazing green eyes shone underneath his tiger mask, he was wearing no shirt and a pair of striped orange and black pants made of a material that Joker couldn’t quite make out. What was even scarier, was the man was tossing Shadows around as if they were nothing but ragdolls. His hair poured down his back in red waves as he picked up another Shadow and literally just chucked him from the lobby up onto the second floor.

The third of them was a rather petite girl. Her long black her done up in a single ponytail and her eyes dark behind her pink masquerade mask. Her clothes were flowing and pink, so much so that it was hard to tell exactly what they were, or what her weapon was, but with a flourish, the Shadows before her fell into literal pieces. Whatever her weapon was, her long flowing robes concealed it perfectly.

The last man was quite clearly the leader. The others were quite clearly leading the way for him and he strode with a heavy purpose. The man wore a black mask in the Volto style with red trim. His outfit was an immaculately tailored suit, a red vest beneath a black jacket, black dress pants, and fine black shoes. It was quite clear that these were Persona users, but none of them were currently using their Persona’s.

The large man stood in front and looked at Joker and his group. “Ace, it seems like we have extra guests.” He spoke, his voice was gruff and gravelled.

The man that Joker figured was the leader stepped forward. “I see that, Tank.” He said. His mask completely covered his face, letting Joker only see his gray eyes, eyes much like his own. “I take it you all are the original Phantom Thieves?” He said.

Joker smirked, “Maybe. The only thing that matters is that we’re here to stop you.”

The man that had been identified as Ace openly laughed. “Oh, I highly doubt people like you could stop us.” He said. “If anything, so far, I learned that you original Phantom Thieves lacked the strength to truly change this world. Lacked the strength to do what must be done.”

“Killing people isn’t strength!” Panther shouted back at the man.

The girl in pink flashed in front of Panther. “You have no right to speak to Ace that way.” She said. Panther took a leap backward and blocked some sort of unseen attack with her whip.

“Calm down, Baby.” Ace said. “It’s okay… they don’t know who I am, after all.”

“What should we do with them?” The last man with the white mask asked.

Ace looked at Joker, Panther, Skull, and Queen with overly eager eyes. “That depends, Blanc. If they don’t stop us, then we can let them be, but if they insist on standing before us… then we do what we do best.”

Blanc’s mouth twisted into an awful sadistic smile. None of the Phantom Thieves budged. Ace sighed.

“We were just going to leave you alone… there’s no need for us to fight. We’re on the same side after all. We want to effect change, just like you do.” Ace said.

“We are nothing like you!” Queen shouted. “We do not kill, that makes you no better than the evil people you claim to be against.”

“Tsk… that’s disappointing. We only want to give Sae Niijima, the corrupt prosecutor the justice that was coming to her, but if you insist on standing in our way… then we’ll bury you in this casino as well.” Ace spoke with somberness in his voice

“Answer me one thing.” Joker interjected. “The mental shutdowns… Are those all your doing?”

“Like you even needed to ask that.” Ace replied. “Tank, clear the way.”

Like lightning, the massive man moved in front of Joker and the others, and raised his arms in a double axe handle.

“MOVE!” Mona shouted.

Before they could act though, the man hit the ground with such force that the shockwave of the blow blasted all four of the Thieves back and left a massive crater in the ground.

“Holy shit...” Skull groaned as he managed to get back to his feet, just in time to see Blanc’s blade in his face. He was saved by Queen’s quick reactions, as she practically punched the flat of the blade and sent the strike off to Skull’s left. However, Blanc was quick to retreat before Queen or Skull could get a hand on him.

Joker stood up and looked at Ace. “It’s Showtime.”

“You got it, Joker.” Skull agreed, and now the battle would begin in earnest.

“Burn, Celestine!” Panther cried as she removed her mask, and summoned her Persona. A massive fireball enveloped the entire lobby as Joker, Skull and Queen moved backed up to let the massive attack go.

“What?! How?!” Queen asked as the smoke cleared. All four of their enemies stood before them, unscathed.

“Is that all that you got?’ Baby asked. “Pathetic.”

Joker moved quickly. Panther was recovering from her attack and was vulnerable, he used his grappling hook to grab the other woman and pulled her towards himself, landing a square kick right into her jaw, and sending her flying back, to be caught by Tank.

“Well, that was cheeky.” Ace said. “Perhaps you have a little bit of skill… but the rest of your team is weak.”

“I’ll fucking show you who’s weak!” Skull cried out. “Queen, you ready?”

“Let’s do it!” Queen, responded.

The pair held hands, and with a spin, Skull tossed her into the air, as high as the ceiling would allow.

“Eat this!” He shouted as he swung his hammer. He timed it just as Queen came down, and using the strength of his swing along with her own power, she rocketed toward Tank. She caught the huge man square in the chest, but he didn’t budge.

“Weak.” Tank said simply and grabbed Queen by the arm. She cried out as she was swung like she weighed less than nothing and then sent flying into Skull, both of them crashing back into a wall.

Ace’s laugh filled the room. “At this rate, you’re all going to die. Are you really alright with that? Just give us the Shadow of Sae Niijima, and you can live.”

Joker narrowed his eyes. “Not yet...” Grasping his mask, he pulled it off. “Come, Raoul.” He called for his Persona. The ultimate version of his innate Persona appeared and he grinned.

“Maeigaon!” He cried. The shadow power coursed through him and Raoul and he felt the power of the blast of curse magic as it filled the room and went after his enemies. He heard cries of pain from them, however, they were still standing. Even worse was that Ace was unscathed still.

“Still not strong enough.” Ace said, and faster than Joker could follow, the man planted his foot in Joker’s chest and sent him flying back into the elevator room. Things were not looking good.

Meanwhile, Oracle and the Sae’s were watching all of this go down from the security room.

“We need to go help them!” Noir said.

“I agree.” Fox seconded the motion.

However, Sae wasn’t having it. “No, it’s me they want, not you all.”

“They’ll kill you, Sae-san!” Violet said.

Shadow Sae looked over at Sae with a raised brow.

“Most likely, but I can’t let them kill the others, if there’s anything that I can do.” Sae said. She looked over at her Shadow. “Even if I have to gamble my life on it.”

Her Shadow actually smiled at her. “We don’t gamble unless we think we can win. I’m with you.’

“Sae-san.” Violet said again.

There wasn’t stopping either Sae though. Her mind was made up, and she was going to do what she needed to do.

By the time that both versions of Sae arrived on the scene, the group of Phantom Thieves were bruised and bloody. They were thoroughly getting their asses kicked by whoever this new group was.

“Sis! What are you doing?” Queen cried out.

“I’m doing what I have to do.” Sae said. “I’m not going to just sit back and watch this.”

Joker grunted as he got back up to his feet and watched Sae and her Shadow stand in front of their assailants. “Get out of there!”

Ace stared down at her and grinned madly, “So… that one is your sister… dearest Makoto, eh?”

“You aren’t going to hurt her anymore.” Sae stated firmly.

“And just what do you think you can do about it, normie?” Blanc stared at her.

“She can’t do anything, but I can!” her Shadow self exclaimed and took on her true form.

The Shadow lashed out hard at the group of four, but she couldn’t land a single blow on any of them, except Tank, and the massive man shrugged off every blow like it was nothing.

“This is the end for you, you corrupt adult.” Ace said. “The world will be better off without you.”

The four launched a group attack, Tank grabbing Shadow Sae into a bear hug, while Blanc and Baby dealt heavy damage with their weapons, all followed with Ace kicking her in the head.

The Shadow turned back into her humanoid form as she looked up as the others closed in for the kill.

Sae knew what would happen if they killed her Shadow, and she rushed to her aid, shielding the fallen woman with her own body.

The killing blows were coming, and she closed her eyes and had to hope she’d survive and protect her shadow.

“Tetrakarn!” She heard Joker’s voice.

“You bastard!” Blanc cried out as his attack was reflected back at him, causing a rather nasty cut to appear along his blade arm. “I’ll fucking KILL YOU!”

Sae looked up to see Joker fall to a knee, obviously exhausted, and the other group were coming back to finish the job on him. “No… stop… stop this...” She cried out.

She felt time slow down, her own heartbeat thumping in her head.

“I hate this. We are supposed to win! We were supposed to change the world!” She heard her own voice in her head. Looking down she saw her Shadow staring harshly at her. “Don’t you remember?! This is all wrong!”

Sae clutched her head. Memories flooded back to her. Memories long forgotten. A young Sae, no older than 5 or 6, looking over her new sister Makoto, smiling and laughing with her parents. Her father teaching her that no matter how much it hurt, they had to do the right thing.

She remembered her mom’s death, and how she blamed her father, wrongly, but she needed someone to be mad at. Then he died and left her alone with Makoto, having to support the both of them. She lost her way.

There had been a promise, made so young that she should have been excused for forgetting about it, for not thinking about it as she grew older. A young girl that wanted to follow her father, promised to make a difference, to help change the world and stop all the evil people.

“Yes… that’s it remember. This, was what we wanted...” Her own voice reverberated in her mind. “We were supposed to fight… We had to win, because we were going to change things.”

Then she remembered almost that exact same promise she made to Ren a little over a year ago. She cried out as pain shot through her entire mind.

“We have failed, over and over again. We can’t keep on like this. We must win. We must truly change.”

“Yes… we have promises to keep… I no longer want to have to rely on those I should be trying to protect.”

“Good… you’ve remembered that which is most important to you. Not that you have to win, but your reason to win.”

“Yes… To change the evil in this world. I remember now. Please… give me your power, and we will never lose again.”

“Then it is time to form the contract.” The voice in her mind said. “I am thou, thou art I...”


	5. Ignite

**Chapter 5**

**Ignite**

“ _There’s a power that’s underneath_

_And you can’t see it ‘til you believe_

_On the edge of infinity_

_Feel the rush under the lights on the highest stage_

_A part of your life it can’t take away_

_Just like the blood running through your veins_

_Everyone’s watching through your eyes_

_There’s only two options win or die, win or die_

_It went from a spark to an open flame_

_Now destiny’s calling out your name_

_So reply, so reply… and ignite!”_

“I am thou, thou art I.” The words rang through Sae’s head as she clutched at it. She looked up at her shadow to see the woman standing above her and offering a hand. She took it and got to her feet unsteadily. Her shadow self’s eyes locked on her’s intently.

“You’ve finally rediscovered your reason to win.” She said. “Now… show everyone your justice, your drive, and your power!”

“Yes! Give me your power.” Sae cried out as the Shadow in front of her disappeared. There was a crackle of energy in the air as she turned her attention to her attackers. For the first time, Joker could see the new mask on her face. It appeared as though it was made of entwined angel feathers.

“Sis?!” Queen called out as she was no managing to pick herself up off of Skull. All of the Phantom Thieves’ attention was completely on Sae now.

Grabbing the mask and letting out a primal scream, Sae ripped it from her face. There was a practical explosion of power as Sae’s persona finally began to manifest. Everyone in the room had to grab a hold of something or risk being blown away.

Once the flash of light had subsided, behind Sae was a stunning, white angel bearing six wings and flowing white and red robes. In her left hand the angel held a rather nasty looking revolver, and in her right an everburning white flame. What was the most odd about it though, was the fact that the angel did not appear to have a lower half, instead tethering to Sae’s back, and sprouting from her as though her persona were her own wings.

“Soar and ignite the heavens, Helena!” Sae shouted as the angel Persona let out a heavenly cry and the room filled with light and fire. The Phantom Thieves could all feel their wounds healing and their strength returning.

“What is this...” Queen said as she looked at her hands and then over at the attackers, to see them having to fight back the flames. “Healing and attacking at the same time?”

“That’s so frickin’ awesome.” Skull exclaimed as he looked over at Sae.

The lawyer’s Persona was practically radiating holy power and surprisingly, Sae herself floated up into the air, carried by the wings that then formed Helena behind her.

“You… rotten bitch!” Blanc screamed. He slashed his sword through the fire and made a beeline for Sae.

“Blanc, no!” Ace called out.

Sae’s eyes glowed with rage and she stared as the white-masked man charged at her. Holding out her hand, Helena’s arms moved, pointing her gun at the swordsman.

“Blazing Bullet.” Sae spoke. The shot from Helena’s revolver erupted from the gun with a white-hot fire. Blanc had to stop in his tracks and bring his blade up to block, but as soon as the bullet hit the blade, a practical explosion of fire enveloped all four of the attackers.

“Back her up!” Joker called out, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves quickly added their own attacks to the assault, pumping gunfire into Ace’s group to keep them away from Sae.

“Helena!” Sae called for her Persona once more. “Purify them all with eternal flame!”

The gun in Helena’s hand disappeared in the next moment, seemingly melting into flame and now the woman held blinding light in one hand and blazing fire in the other. With a flourish, the two mixed in Helena’s hands and flew out to scorch her would be assailants.

“Fall back! Now!” Ace shouted as the magic covered the area in searing light. None of the Phantom Thieves could see them through it, as it covered their escape.

“Damn it, they’re getting away!” Skull said, moving to chase, but was stopped as Queen grabbed his arm.

“It’s fine.” Mona told him, “Besides, just after awakening their persona a person is usually...”

As if on cue, Helena winked out of existence and Sae fell from where she was hovering several feet above the ground.

Joker moved to catch her, and was met with Violet and Fox, who had followed Sae down. Together, the three made sure she made it to her feet safely.

“I’ve never… felt so drained...” Sae groaned as she unsteadily stood and moved to sit on a bench. She stopped and looked down at her attire. Her hands were clad with long black gloves, She was in what appeared to be a rather provocative black evening gown with a sheer window in front that showed off more than she would have liked. “Wait a minute… This… this is what that shadow version of me was wearing...”

“It’s apparently what your idea of a rebel is...” Mona explained.

“It’s not exactly the same… the spiked choker is gone, and the hat…” Panther mentioned. “It is… less revealing over all if it helps. Like, your back is less exposed, and your showing less from the side.”

Sae placed her head in one of her hands. She chuckled a bit. “I can’t believe this is my subconscious idea of rebellion… though I suppose it makes sense. The straight laced attorney becoming a carefree gambler...” She looked to see the mask in her hands, made to look like an angel’s wings. “Angel wings… like my persona."

After a few moments of silence and rest, Sae had the strength to stand again.

“Sis...” Queen ran up and hugged the other woman. Sae smiled and hugged her sister back.

“Apologies for worrying you.” Sae told her.

The moment wasn’t able to last long though, as the entire casino began to shake violently. All of the thieves looked around before Mona hopped up on top of the bench that Sae had been sitting on.

“We need to get out of here now… this palace is collapsing since the owner awakened a Persona. Hurry!”

The race was on to get out of the casino then. Queen and Joker went to Sae’s sides and helped her run with all the strength that they could muster, with the others going ahead. Soon enough they were tumbling out of the Palace as it all collapsed around them.

“Is it always like that?” Sae asked as she leaned against a nearby building.

“Yeah… pretty much. We get what we came for, and then it’s a mad dash for the exit.” Ryuji answered her.

Haru nodded. “It’s… just the way things work, it seems.”

“Must be exhausting.” Sae noted as she looked around. “I suppose that we should head somewhere to talk about what just happened. Come, we can use my office since it’s nearby.”

It didn’t take long for the group to get back to Sae’s office. Once inside, the lawyer moved to her very comfortable chair behind her desk and collapsed onto it, feeling rather physically and mentally drained in the moment. To be fair to her though, she had literally just survived an assassination attempt after all.

Everyone took a seat where they could and a somewhat uncomfortable silence settled over them as they thought over what had just happened. Not only had they come face to face with a new threat, but these new Persona users were practically on an entirely different level. If Sae hadn’t awoken her own Persona, things likely would not have ended well for any of them.

“Damn it… what happened in there?” Ryuji asked. “How can they be that strong?”

“I’m not so sure if it’s that they got that strong… as much as we might have gotten weaker.” Makoto said softly.

Sae nodded. “It has been over a year since any of you have done anything like this. Rust is to be expected.”

Sumire looked down. “I don’t know… it felt more than that though… Yeah, we were rusty, but...”

“Nothing was working.” Ann added, she looked over at Ren. “You were the only one that seemed to have any effect.”

Ren leaned back in his chair and his hand moved up to fiddle with a bit of his hair. He was deep in thought for the moment while everyone was looking to him for his thoughts. He didn’t keep them waiting for very long though as he quickly organized his ideas.

“I imagine it’s a bit of each. These are clearly the people that have been causing the new mental shutdown incidents… and they’ve been at it for nearly two months, where we have done nothing of the sort for over a year. But it did seem like they were much stronger than we were two months into our own experience. I’m not sure if any of you noticed, but they never even used their Personas.” He stated. “If we encounter them again… it might not end well.”

“What the eff, man?!” Ryuji cursed.

“This is definitely a most unfortunate turn of events.” Yusuke agreed. “But, there has to be something we can do...”

“At least we have a super strong new member of the team.” Futaba said. “She’s like… definitely at the level cap already.”

“I assume you’re talking about me?” Sae asked. She frowned slightly and shook her head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not going to be joining your group.”

“Sis?” Makoto asked, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

“Two reasons. First, I made a promise to all of you, to trust the adults and leave things to us.” Sae answered, moving to stand. “And while I can’t stop you, and won’t get in your way. I’m not going to renege on that promise. Secondly, I can’t be associated with your group so intimately, if I’m going to protect you from the SIU. It’s already known that we are acquaintances, but if someone were to piece together the fact that I’m in the Phantom Thieves, then what trust I have with the SIU evaporates. This way, I can continue to try and keep the authorities off of all of you. Thus, I won’t be joining you. However, it would be a waste for me not to explore the possibilities of these new powers. I will find my own way, but I’m sure, our paths will cross before all of this is said and done.”

“Then… we should still give you a codename, instead of using your real one, like the rest of us.” Morgana said.

Sae stared at the cat for a long moment. “The cat… really does talk, huh? Part of me thought you were all just playing a joke on me...”

Morgana bristled slightly. Still his natural reaction to being called a cat.

“What about ‘Angel’?” Haru suggested. “Helena was very angelic.”

“But she’s a gambler.” Ryuji chimed in. “Something like ‘Roulette’ or ‘Flush’ or something, you know?”

“Neither of those sound great, Ryuji.” Ann scoffed.

Sae chuckled slightly. It was odd what these kids got so worked up over. Sometimes it was hard to remember that they were just teenagers and young adults. But this moment was a stark reminder of that. “Alright, alright. How about...” Sae thought back to what she felt was the most striking part of the entire ordeal. Her mask. It was shaped like a wing of angel feathers. “Feather.” She stated.

“Feather it is then.” Ren agreed. “I wish I was welcoming you into our group… but I understand your reasons. If you ever have need of us, you know how to get a hold of us.”

“Same to you. I may not be an official member, but if you need my help, don’t be shy.” Sae mirrored the sentiment.

Spirits were at least a bit higher after the talk that they all had. Sure Ace’s group had wiped the floor with them, but they had succeeded in their mission. They just had to get stronger, and there was no doubt in any of them that they would.

That feeling was quickly put on hold though as a small blue butterfly fluttered into the room. In a flash of light, Lavenza appeared before all of them.

“Lady Lavenza? What are you doing here?” Morgana asked.

“Lavenza? Who is this?” Sae asked.

Lavenza turned and looked at Sae. “Apologies, Niijima-san.” She bowed to the woman. “I would offer more congratulations on your awakening, but I have urgent matters to discuss with the Trickster and his friends. I’m afraid I have to ask you all to cut this meeting short and come with me to the Velvet Room.”

“The Trickster? Velvet Room?”

“She means me.” Ren said to Sae. “There are a few things that I haven’t fully told you… mainly because I never thought you’d believe them.”

“More outlandish than a talking cat?” Sae asked. “But… Trickster is very fitting, I must admit.” Ren grinned and looked at the others.

The rest of the Thieves nodded with determination.

“Should I come as well?” Sae asked.

“Your presence is not required, but, as long as it is fine with the Trickster, you may accompany us.” Lavenza stated.

Ren looked over at Sae. “It’s up to you.” He stated.

Sae looked at the others and then shook her head. “I’m already exhausted and I don’t think I could handle more tonight. Keep me informed though if you learn anything.”

“Please, follow me.” Lavenza told the others. “Time is of great import.” The Velvet Room attendant then took on her butterfly form once more and departed.

“I guess we shouldn’t keep Lavenza and her master waiting.” Makoto said. “I’m so happy that you’re okay, Sis..” She moved to Sae and hugged her deeply. Sae was all smiles and returned the hug.

“Take care of yourself Makoto… I’m going to head home and get some rest.”

Lavenza led the Thieves down to a phantasmal door. Ren recognized it instantly as the same ones that he used in various places to travel to the Velvet Room whenever he needed.

“Please come inside.” Lavenza said and opened the door for them all.

The Phantom Thieves filed in and again found themselves back in the Velvet Room. The room that they all found themselves in this time was different. It looked like an office of some sort, though it was done up in the same blue velvet as the prison cells were. On the wall was a map of the prison that was the Velvet Room, and on the desk were a number of buttons and switches.

“An office?” Panther asked.

“Not any office… the Warden’s office.” Queen said, gesturing to the door, which had the words written on the frosted glass. “Whose room is this?”

Joker went to the door and opened it. He was greeted to the same sight as the first night that they had been brought back to the Velvet Room. “It’s my room, or at least… this is where I came in that first night.”

The other’s followed him out of the office and looked down to see Lavenza and Igor in their usual place.

“Welcome back, Thieves. It seems that you have already hit a major roadblock in your journey for the truth of things.” Igor greeted them.

Together, the team worked their way down to the ground level once more and came face to face with Igor and Lavenza.

“We have been trying to keep an eye on events as much as we can.” Lavenza told them all. “And your recent encounter did not go unnoticed. These new Persona-users are unsettling. While anyone with a strong enough will can awaken their Persona, the strength of this new group is unnatural.”

“You believe it has to do with the entity that is holding the Metaverse open?” Queen asked.

“Very likely.” Lavenza nodded. “However, that means that they are getting support from whatever this entity is. I have my suspicions… but… there’s not enough yet to make solid conclusions.”

“Then what do we do since they have these suped up Personas or whatever is going on?” Skull asked.

“We will have to resort to… some drastic measures.” Lavenza said. She then gestured to the prison cells behind them and one opened for each of them. Joker noticed though, that his own normal cell still didn’t have a door.

“You Trickster, will have to grow in your own way. But for the others… there is a ritual to aid you. However, I don’t know how it will affect you.”

“You’re going to put them in lockdown? Like how we did with my Personas?” Joker asked.

“Wait… you’re going to put us in prison to make us more powerful?” Panther asked.

Lavenza nodded. “This process was designed with only Personas in mind. However, none of you can separate a Persona from yourself like someone with the Wild Card ability can. Therefore… you’ll have to stay in the cell. I cannot tell you what will happen, or what effect this will have on you. But it will strengthen your Personas.”

“This… sounds very risky.” Violet said.

“As I said, this is a drastic measure to try to bring you up to the same power as the group you faced.” Lavenza explained. “I cannot guarantee your safety. Nor how long it will take.”

“We still have a week before our classes start… but...” Fox started.

“Violet and I have already started back to school. We can’t just suddenly miss a lot of time.” Oracle finished the thought for him.

“The ritual can be ended early, if needed, though the effects won’t be as strong as if you completed the trial.” Lavenza said. “You must all decide on whether or not to go through with it. We will not force you to undergo such dangers.”

“Should… we take a day to think about it, and come back tomorrow?” Noir asked the others.

“That seems the best… to think it over and make our own decisions.” Queen agreed.

“Remember, Thieves, your time is limited.” Igor spoke up. “I can sense a great ruin approaching if things continue down their current path.”

Lavenza looked back at her master and then to the Thieves. “Even so, take the time you need to reach your decision. We will await your answers tomorrow.”

Eveyone had gone their own ways after leaving the Velvet Room. The weight of the decision with each of them. Ren could tell that they were all wondering how to best proceed. He didn’t doubt any of them for a second. Each held an incredibly strong will, and he knew that they would all brave the danger of the ritual Lavenza offered. Or at least, he was reasonably sure they would.

“Hey...” He heard a familiar, adorable voice say from behind. Turning, he gazed down at Ann and could see the worry in her face.

“Hey.” He returned and reached out for her hand, holding it softly as they headed to the train station. “What’s wrong? Worried about tomorrow?”

Ann nodded her head softly. “What do you think will happen? Lavenza wasn’t very reassuring.”

Ren shook his head. “I don’t know… I’ve used it before… but as she said, I would just leave a Persona there to strengthen… but they never seemed the worse for wear. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I hope your right...” Ann answered, her voice muted with worry.

Ren pulled her in close, wrapping arms around her. “I’ll stay right there, by your side the entire time, okay?”

Ann looked up and smiled. “That already gives me much more hope.” She said to him. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Ren gave her a warm smile in return before leaning down and kissing the top of her head softly. “So… you’ve already made up your mind?” Even though she was obviously worried, she never mentioned not going through with it.

“Of course… I know you, Ren.” She replied, leaning into him as they walked. “You wouldn’t let something like this stop you… and neither will I. We promised we’d stay with each other, right? If I couldn’t face this, then I couldn’t stay with you.”

Ren stopped and brought a hand to her face, running a thumb along Ann’s cheek. “You’ve always been stronger than you give yourself credit for. Something like this wouldn’t force us to part. I’ll be by your side always, no matter what.” He said to her. He could see the blush rising in her cheeks, which brought a smile to his face.

“How about… we stick together for a bit longer tonight?” He suggested. “A late dinner, and you could come to the cafe and we could throw on a movie?”

“I love the sound of that.” Ann agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello all, I hope you’ve been enjoying the story so far. I’ve enjoyed writing it. I figured, I should give you all some info on Helena, so you’ll know what to look forward too in the future. I’m going to use in-game terms to give you an idea of what Sae’s Persona is like.
> 
> Helena  
> Arcana: Judgment  
> Trait: Mixture Magic  
> Skills: One-shot Kill, Triple Down, Maragidyne, Makougaon, Salvation, Samarecarm, Concentrate, Marakunda  
> Resistances: Strong against Gun, Strong against Fire, Null Bless, Weak to Curse.
> 
> I feel I owe an explanation of Mixture Magic as well. Helena gives Sae the ability to mix any two of her skills into a brand new skill. You saw three in this chapter. The new skill has all the effects of the two skills that are mixed, but also all the costs as well. So to show what the effects look like.
> 
> Heaven’s Gift (Salvation + Maragidyne) – Fully restore HP and cure all ailments of party except special status and deal heavy fire damage to all foes.
> 
> Blazing Bullet (One-shot Kill + Maragidyne) – Deal Severe gun damage to one foe with a high crit chance and deal heavy fire damage to all foes.
> 
> Eternal Flames (Maragidyne + Makougaon) – Deal heavy Fire/Bless damage to all foes two times.
> 
> Also, these mixed abilities always use the targest weakest resistance. So… if Helena hits a target that’s weak to gun but drains fire with Blazing Bullet, the damage hits the weakness with no drain.
> 
> Also, for a little bit of lore. Helena is inspired by Claire Helena Ferguson, one of the first female deputies in history. Appointed deputy sheriff in Salt Lake City in 1897, she was known for being very strong-willed. When asked about her dangerous job, she said, “I know…that events may come up at any time which may place me in dangerous places, but I am willing to take my chances. Why should I fear more than the men? The duties of the Sheriff’s office must be performed, and if a woman has the proper amount of self-reliance and energy I cannot see why she should not be perfectly able to carry out her orders as well as a man. I feel like I can, and I am going to strive during my term in office to perform my duties faithfully and without shirking the unpleasant portion of the work.” While she mostly dealt with female and juvenile criminals, she had several feats of her own, including being the only woman ever invited to the “Robber’s Roost”, a place where lawless gangs of cattle thieves congregated. 
> 
> For a woman striving and fighting to succeed in a male dominated role in her society like Sae, I felt like Helena would be a very good match.


	6. Bother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, as some of you may have noticed, I have increased the rating on this fic from Teen to Mature. With this chapter, I decided to take things a bit... darker than it had been until to this point.
> 
> Also to anyone who may be sensitive to such matters, this episode deals heavily with issues of suicide and sexual harassment / assault. It's possible that you may want to skip this chapter if you feel that you need to.
> 
> I hope that the chapter at the very least gets through the point that I was hoping for. Thank you all for reading and enjoying my work so far.

**Chapter 6**

**Bother**

“ _I wish I had a reason_

_My flaws are open season_

_For this I gave up trying_

_One good turn deserves my dying_

_You don’t need to bother_

_I don’t need to be_

_I’ll keep slipping farther_

_But once I hold on, I won’t let go til it bleeds”_

It was an odd feeling. Even when he was a prisoner here, Joker had always felt a calmness in the Velvet Room. Perhaps it was the music that came from who knew where. He had always meant to ask where the soothing music came from, but there had never really been a chance to. Now, though, with the tangible feeling of frayed nerves filling the room, the music almost felt more ominous.

Each of the other Thieves stood in front of one of the cells in the room. Lavenza was already at work preparing for the ritual, lighting incense that Joker recognized as some of the same ones he had used with his Personas.

“Incense?” Panther asked.

“It’ll help soothe you mind and soul… as well as aid in your Persona’s strengthening.” Lavenza explained. “Everything is ready for all of you. All you need to do is step inside.”

The others all looked at each other, and soon Skull stepped up, he rolled his shoulder as though he was doing some sort of stretch or working out kinks in the joint. “Welp, I guess after this, I’ll be able to say I spent time behind bars. Chicks think that’s cool, right?”

“Really?” Queen gave him an exasperated look. She was the next to follow up. “Take this a little more seriously, would you?” She passed by the man and stepped into her own cell.

“Hey, I am taking this seriously!” Skull responded and followed into his own cell.

One by one, all of the Thieves took to their own cells except for Joker. He stood in the center of the room with Lavenza. He looked at the empty desk for a long moment.

“So… where is Igor?” he asked.

“Master had some other business to attend to. Hopefully something that will aid you all on your journey.” Lavenza informed him. “He left the oversight of the ritual to you and myself.”

“To me?” Joker asked.

Lavenza nodded. “The Velvet Room was always supposed to be your prison, but you were never supposed to be the inmate. That was due to the corrupting influence of that imposter and false god. You were meant to be the Warden of this place, my Trickster. To bring the souls of humanity here and rehabilitate them was to be your purpose. However, you never really received the chance to embrace your true role until now.”

“I see...” Joker said as he watched each of the cells closely. Each one of his friends seemed not to hear what they were talking about. Honestly, they seemed to be in some sort of waking sleep. He swore he could see flashes and glimmerings of their Personas as the ritual progressed. “So, it was supposed to be more like this from the start?”

“Yes, though not exactly like this. You wouldn’t have been imprisoning actual people here after all.” Lavenza flipped open her tome and scanned through the pages. “The matter of the fact is… Humanity as a whole is still balanced on the edge of a blade, anything that disturbs that balance could cause great ruin. By bringing Shadows and Personas here, and rehabilitating them before sending them back to the sea of souls, the hope was that you would be able to bring stability, at the very least, if not lead all of humanity into a more just and more prosperous age.”

Joker gazed over at the attendant and shook his head slightly. “That would have been one hell of an undertaking. But, many times things do not go to plan.”

“Sadly.” Lavenza agreed.

Before Joker or Lavenza could say another word, there was a piercing scream, it came from Panther’s cell, and it was quickly joined by the others barely a few moments afterward. Concern quickly filling him, Joker moved to Panther’s cell, and saw that she was curled up on the ground, hands clutching at her mask, and clearly in pain.

“Panther?!” He called out for her, “What’s wrong?!”

He then felt a hand on his arm. “I was afraid of this.” Lavenza stated. “But, there’s nothing we can do now without ruining their chances of succeeding in this ritual. It will be painful, my Trickster, but you must believe in your friends now more than ever.”

Joker looked down at Panther for a long moment and then nodded, moving one by one to check on each of his friends. Even Mona was in pain it seemed. None of them could hear him, and he worried what was happening to each of them.

* * *

Ann woke with a start. She looked over at her alarm clock and groaned, she had apparently hit the snooze button one too many times and was running late again. She felt like she had just woken from some crazy dream. Everything was so hazy though as she slid from her bed and headed to grab a quick shower. After dressing in her school uniform, she grabbed a bagel to eat on her way to school.

At the very least, the trip to the school was uneventful. She made it to her home room right in the nick of time. Sitting at her seat, she looked out the window and let out a small sigh as Ms. Kawakami called roll. She took a moment to look back at the transfer student who sat behind her. The boy looked rather uninterested in everything going on around him. For some reason, she felt like she should remember something about him, but she couldn’t fathom why. They hadn’t even exchanged a word since the day he had introduced himself to the class.

The day went by the same as it ever did. Ann was just barely paying attention to Mr. Ushimaru’s lecture when she heard one of their class mates call out.

“Hey! What’s that!”

“Wait, she’s going to jump!”

“Suzui?” Mishima gasped.

Ann felt panic and terror grip her heart. “Shiho?” She ran to the window to see that her dearest friend was standing on the edge of the roof. “No, stop Shiho.” She tried to call out, but it was too late. She could do nothing but watch in horror as her best friend, practically her only friend, threw herself from the roof and to the courtyard below.

The feeling of terror that gripped her in that moment left her almost paralyzed. She had to will her feet to move, to run. She had to go and make sure Shiho was okay. This couldn’t be happening.

By the time that she managed to make it to the courtyard from the second floor, there was already a crowd gathering around. Ann pushed her way through though, and she could see several paramedics were already working their way to Shiho as well. However, once she got to the front, Ann suddenly wished that she hadn’t made it. She arrived just in time to see them draping a sheet over Shiho’s body, and she could see the sickening pool of blood left from where they had picked her up off the ground. The sheet was completely still, no signs of life or movement at all, not even a small rising and falling that could signify breathing.

She could faintly hear teachers shouting for students to get back inside and to leave the paramedics to their work. But she couldn’t move. She suddenly found that her legs didn’t work, her knees buckled, sending her to the ground. The tears came next. She clutched her arms close around herself and did the only thing she could. She screamed.

Several teachers attempted to get her to calm down, and to pull her away from the scene. Ann was so overcome with raw grief that she didn’t hear them. Her body wracked with sobs and cries until she no longer had the energy to keep crying. The last thing she remembered was what felt like a strong pair of hands grabbing her by the shoulders as she passed out from the exhaustion and trauma.

Ann had no idea how long she had been out for when she finally woke up. She was still in her school uniform and laying on a bed in the nurse’s office.

“Oh.. you’re finally up.” The nurse said as she came over to Ann. “I know it’s a hard day on you dear… please, get some rest. Will you be okay to go home?”

Ann nodded numbly. Shiho was gone forever. She wouldn’t ever see the other girl’s smile again, never hear her voice, nothing. She slid from the bed and moved to leave the room. She needed to go somewhere, anywhere but here right now.

The nurse gave her a concerned look, but allowed her to leave. Ann headed out of the office, and moved to head to the front exit of the school. It seemed like all the other students had already left for the day. She must have been out for several hours. She grabbed her things as quickly as she could and headed out.

She never got out of the front doors, though, when she heard that terrible voice from behind her.

“Takamaki, wait.” Kamoshida spoke and moved up to her. “Let me drive you home. You’ve had a tough day.”

“N-No, it’s fine… I just want to walk… and think.” She said and tried to move away from him.

Kamoshida seized her by the arm. “No, I insist.” He said, his voice taking a bit more force than he had ever used with her before. She realized quickly that it was because they were completely alone in the school.

“Stop it… that hurts.” She said, but that was all she could say before he literally dragged her out of the school by her arm. Soon he had her pinned up against a wall in the alley beside the school.

“Now you listen her, you little tease.” Kamoshida said. “You’ve lead me around long enough. I’ve lost the best player on my girls’ volleyball team because of you...”

“W-What?!” Ann exclaimed.

“And I’m done playing this cat and mouse game with you. Do you understand?” Kamoshida glared at her. “I’ve been talking to a few of the other teachers, as well as Principal Kobayakawa. If you don’t straighten up soon… I’m afraid the school is going to have to expel you.”

“You can’t do this...”

“Oh but I can. You’ve left me with no choice Ann.” Kamoshida spat. “Now, you can either get in my car right now, or we can see what happens when you get expelled. I’m sure your parents are going to be very, very upset.”

Ann just stared up at the man. First Shiho, and now this. She just wanted everything to stop for a bit, or for someone to come and help her. She hated this, and now she was backed into a corner. She didn’t know what to do. “F-Fine...”

She hated herself for agreeing to it, but at the moment she felt like she had little choice. She followed the man to his car, and let him drive her home. The worst part about it all though, was he spent the entire trip with his hand on her leg, rubbing up and down her thigh. Several times she thought he was going to slip the hand underneath her skirt, but thankfully he never did.

Once he had pulled up to her home, he stopped the car and looked at her. “I’ll pick you up and drop you off each day from now on, got it?”

Just desperately wanting to get away from the man, Ann nodded.

“That’s a good girl. I know you just went through a lot. It’ll be alright though, just let me handle everything for you.” Kamoshida said with once of the most perverted grins on his face that Ann had ever seen. “You’ll see, once you’re my girl, everything will get much better for you. Go ahead and get out of here, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ann all but ran out of the man’s car and into her house. Once inside she slammed herself back against the front door and sank down. She clutched her knees as she cried. Everything was just getting worse and worse, and she saw no end to it in sight.

The next several days were the exact same. Kamoshida came and picked her up and then took her home. It sparked a whole new wave of rumors through the school, especially since Kamoshida was being much more brazen in his advances towards her now. He constantly was getting more handsy too. She knew it would be sooner rather than later that he’d force himself onto her. She wasn’t dumb.

The desperation grew as each day passed. To say she felt like a mouse caught in a trap was an understatement. She wandered around the school at lunchtime and happened to see the transfer student sitting alone eating his lunch. With no one to talk to anymore about her problems or her state of mind, Ann couldn’t stop herself from looking at him. He seemed so familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.

Walking up to him as he sat on the bench, she got his attention quickly. She hadn’t realized how good he looked until that moment. The glasses had done a good job of hiding his enigmatic eyes. His hair was that perfect kind of bedhead messy that screamed sexy rather than lazy. He was rather long and lean too. She was sure he’d look good in just about anything, and he definitely looked good in the Shujin uniform.

“Do you mind if I sit with you… Ren?” She asked him. She then stopped in her tracks. Why did she call him by his given name? They weren’t that close, were they?

“I’m sorry… Takamaki-san, was it?” He replied. His eyes almost seemed to look through her rather than at her. “I’d rather be left alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh… okay then… um… I’m sorry, R… I mean Amamiya-san.” She answered him. He kept just staring through her until she turned and headed out to find somewhere else to sit and eat. She never saw the boy with anyone else either, though that was rather normal, considering all the rumors swirling around about him.

She couldn’t fathom why she had spoke to him so casually, like they were close friends. The stress had to be getting to her. She was desperate for someone, anyone to come and help her. To save her from Kamoshida and his plans for her.

No help ever came though, and soon, Ann knew things were going too far. One day, Kamoshida didn’t take her home, at least not immediately. Instead he found some secluded parking garage and did exactly what she was worried he was going to do to her. She asked him where he was taking her several times, but he never answered until they were stopped and he forced his lips onto hers.

Working off of pure instinct, Ann bit him in response, forcing him to pull away from her. That earned her a quick backhand across the face. She snapped back to see the man practically snarling at her. “After everything I’ve given you, you bitch, you bite me?!” He spat venomously. “I’m starting to think you aren’t worth my time… but everytime, I just think about what you’ll look like in my bed...”

She looked up at him in pure horror as he grabbed her by her jacket and ripped it from her. “No, stop… I don’t want to do this!” She shouted at him and fought to keep him away from her. He didn’t stop though, leaning over in his car and once more forcing himself into her personal space.

“I’ve had enough of the shy girl act.” He said to her. “Either, give me what I want, or I’m going to take it from you.” The maniacal son of a bitch was grinning at her when he said those words.

“Okay… Okay...” she said. “Just.. not here… not now...” Ann was trying to find a way out. There was only one way she could think of. “I just want that first time to be special… you… you know… just not in some car in a garage.”

That made the man at least stop his advances on her. “Oh? Special huh?”

“Yeah… like… a nice date first, and then a warm soft bed...” She continued, feeling like she was going to vomit with every word that she said.

Kamoshida grinned. “Well… don’t let it be said that I’m not one to pamper my girl.” He leaned in and forced a kiss on her again, but he then luckily backed off of her. “I’ll make reservations. But, you’ll be giving me that first time that night. One way or another.”

Ann just stayed completely silent as Kamoshida took her the rest of the way home. This was it, once he made those reservations, she was done for. She had no more cards to play, nothing that she could do to escape.

Almost no way to escape…

Two days after the encounter in the garage, Ann got the confirmation that their “date” was going to be the next night. Kamoshida promised her that he was pulling out all the stops, “just for his princess.” Just reading the words made her sick to her stomach.

The time seemed to stretch out forever as she considered her options. She couldn’t go through with this. Her mind began to focus on what she was quickly deciding was her only escape. There was just no other way, at least no other way that she could find.

That day, at lunch, Ann made her way up to the roof. She walked to the edge, stepping up onto the railing just as Shiho had. She looked down at the courtyard. “Shiho… I’m so sorry… it’s all my fault...” She cried as she looked down. Maybe, this way, she could see Shiho again, in whatever waited for them after this was all over.

Just as she was about to jump, she felt a strong hand grab her by the arm and pull her back. She spun to see him there, her tormentor.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kamoshida snapped at her. “You’re not going to pull that same shit your friend did on me. You owe me.”

“What?” She looked up at him.

“You heard me… That stupid bitch. You weren’t giving me any attention, so I decided to be nice and give it to her instead. And she killed herself. Not again. I’ll make sure I get everything I want out of you, Princess.”

“You… fucking sick bastard...” Ann cursed him and tried to yank herself free of him.

“Oh ho… that’s just precious coming from you, miss school slut.” He said. “Step down from there, and just… do… what… I… say!”

The rage at learning that Kamoshida had pushed Shiho to commit suicide, just like he was doing to her filled Ann in the moment. That’s when her mind began to snap.

This was all wrong, she could feel it. She wasn’t this weak. She knew she was stronger than this. “No! I’m done being your fucking princess… I’m done with this world!” She screamed. She seized Kamoshida by his arm then. “And I’m making sure you can’t hurt anyone else!” She dug her nails into the perverted teacher’s arm then. She didn’t care what it did to him. She could see the streams of red coming from his arm as she left him with deep gashes as she refused to let go.

Ann drug the man off the roof with her. The sound of his terrified screaming almost brought a joy to her. However, the longer she fell, the more it felt like time was slowing down.

“This is wrong...” She said, going back to her previous thoughts. “None of this is right. I know it. I know this is all a lie.”

“Finally… I was beginning to worry about you.” Ann heard the voice in her head. “For too long, you relied on others. Even in your strongest moments, he was there...”

There was a flash in Ann’s thoughts. Ren. Ren had always been there for her. At her weakest, and at her strongest. He helped her with Kamoshida, he had helped her with her modeling career and Mika. His advice helped her so much as she helped get Shiho back on her feet.

“Bonds give us strength. However, we must also be able to stand on our own.” Celestine’s voice filled her mind. “In this world… even without him, with no one to help you. You found your voice, your strength. And I can feel it.”

“Celestine?” Ann was confused, this felt so much different than any other awakening inside of her before.

“Before, I lent my strength to you… but now… your strength is flowing into me.” Celestine said happily. “With it, we will be stronger than ever. Never forget how it feels, to stand on your own. Bring that strength to your friends, and use it to stand with them and never let go.”

“Yes, Celestine. I promise I will!” Ann cried out. She felt the eruption of power come from her in that moment. Fire enveloped her and she could feel the comfortable and familiar embrace of her catsuit. Her phantom thief outfit, the proof of what she truly was.

“Let’s burn this world to ashes, Celestine… and get back to where we truly belong.”

* * *

Joker was worried. All of his friends had been in lockdown for a long time now, almost a week. Using this ritual on a Persona never took this long. Lavenza assured him though that it was because each of his friends had to go in there with their Personas.

It pained him to listen to. Their shouts of pain and anquish, of hurt. He knew he had heard most all of them crying at some point. Whatever was going on in those cells had to be awful. But he was stuck out her, being their Warden, only able to watch as they suffered.

Suddenly to him, though, he could feel the overwhelming power. It was coming from Panther’s cell. He looked over at it, but he couldn’t see inside. The entire cell was engulfed in flame, and growing hotter by the second. He then heard the scream.

It was unlike anything up until that point. There wasn’t any pain or hurt in it, this was a roar of rage and power, and it was coming from Panther. He backed away from the door of the cell, and then had to duck as the thing didn’t just disappear, it was blown off of its hinges.

Emerging from the inferno, Panther stumbled out. Joker could feel it. Whatever the ritual had done to her, it felt like she was on a totally different level now. She took several steps toward him and he was there to catch her once her legs gave out.

“Panther...” He said as she held to him.

“This… this is real...” She said, he could hear the raw emotion in her voice, the cracking as she tried to hold back the tears.

“Yes… it’s real...” He assured her. She clutched him tighter.

“Good… so good...” She said. She looked up at him. The smile he saw there was the most beautiful thing he could ever remember seeing, and he had seen a lot of her smiles.

“What happened...” Joker asked. Panther shook her head. She didn’t want to think about that now. She could remember every bit of it. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy being with him again, to feel the embrace of someone who truly cared about her and loved her.

“Tell you later...” She bargained with him. “For now… I just want to enjoy this… this moment.”

Joker looked down at her as she just kept her face buried in his chest. “Alright… it sounds like you’ve been through a lot.” He said, running a tender hand through her hair and letting her enjoy it.

However, the moment was shorter lived than either of them would have liked. The surges of power were coming from everyone now. Whatever trials the rituals had put them through, it seemed as though they were succeeding.


	7. Watermelon Sugar

**Chapter 7**

**Watermelon Sugar**

“ _Breathe me in, breathe me out_

_I don’t know if I could ever go without_

_I’m just thinking out loud_

_I don’t know if I could ever go without”_

Ren sat at the counter at Leblanc and sipped at his coffee. The last twelve hours had been rather odd. Every single one of his friends had come out of the other side of their nearly week long trial in lockdown looking somewhat haunted. Whatever had happened to them had definitely affected them heavily. None of them were even responding to the group chat.

He knew that it was probably for the best to give them their space though. Something important had happened for each of them, and he knew they just likely needed some time to decompress. Even Ann hadn’t said a word to him once they left the Velvet Room. They had shared that moment before everyone else had finished, and after that had went their separate ways. He had hoped that she would text him back, but she never did last night.

It was worrying, but he wondered if he was just being too protective. If she really was having trouble with something, he was sure she would talk to him about it.

“Everything okay?” Sojiro asked. “You have a pretty worried look on your face there, and you’re just staring into your cup.”

Ren looked up and then nodded. “I hope it is. Everyone is just being rather… quiet.”

“Quiet, eh? That certainly is a bit out of character for you lot.” Sojiro chuckled. “I’ve noticed the same from Futaba, she’s just shut herself up in her room again. Though, that’s not completely out of the ordinary for her.”

Ren grinned slightly. “I’m sure she’s just tired. Everyone probably is, honestly. A lot’s going on, and the rest of us start university tomorrow.”

“The next big step. Make sure you focus enough on your studies.” Sojiro stated. “Even with everything going on, you still have the future to look to.”

Ren nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep up with everything.” He gave the man a smile. “I think I may go and take a walk though after breakfast.” He didn’t feel like just sitting around and doing nothing all day.

There was the familiar chiming of the store’s bell as someone entered the store. Probably one of the regulars.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.” Sojiro said with a knowing grin and tilted his head to get Ren to look at the door.

Ren raised a brow and turned his head. He stopped as he took a minute to take in the beauty of Ann that stood before him. It wasn’t that she was wearing anything out of the ordinary. She was in her staple varsity jacket with what looked like just a plain white button-up shirt beneath it and a blue jeans. However, she always made anything she wore look absolutely stunning.

“Ann… I didn’t know you were coming...” He said and moved to get up out of his seat and help her over to one of the booths to sit.

“Well… I didn’t tell you I was coming… so...” Ann said, blushing slightly and playing a little nervously with one of her twin tails. As he got closer to her, she looked up at him and then grabbed him by the hand. “Do you mind coming with me for a while?”

Ren stopped and looked down at her and then back over to Sojiro. He usually helped out in the cafe in the mornings. Sojiro though waved him off. “Go ahead, I can cover things here.”

Looking back to her, he felt Ann tugging on his arm even before he could answer. He just followed her wherever she was leading him. His eyes were focused on her, even as she was leading him around like a mother would lead a child, her hand holding tightly onto his.

They left Leblanc and just began to walk. Ren wondered if she even had any sort of destination in mind as they passed the station, but it seemed like they were heading in the general direction of Shibuya. Ann didn’t say a word after they left the cafe, seemingly intent on getting somewhere. He had half a mind to ask her where they were headed, but decided to see where things went instead.

After walking for a good while, they suddenly stopped. Ann turned and looked at him. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about this place.” She said to him.

“What?” He asked.

“Just promise me.”

Ren couldn’t help but crack a bit of a smile. It was such an odd thing. “Okay, I promise. But… where are we?” He asked. He looked around and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Nothing that really seemed like it would be somewhere that Ann would go.

“You’ll see.” She answered him. Taking him by the hand again, he was lead down a narrow alley and to a stairwell that lead to the basement of one of the buildings. It reminded him a bit of the jazz club in Kichijoji. There was a sign that simply read “Dessert” and nothing else. That explained a lot. The question really was, what was a dessert shop doing in such a shady place, and how in the world did Ann find it?

Leading him down the stairs and into the shop, Ann took him inside the tiny space. Ren could scarcely believe it but the shop was even smaller than Leblanc. There were just three tiny tables for two, and a counter that held a variety of admittedly delicious looking desserts.

“Ann, it’s nice to see you back again. How was school overseas?” The lady working behind the counter asked. Ann smiled back at the woman warmly.

“It was fun, but I’m glad to be back in Tokyo, Fujiko.” Ann returned the greeting. “The shop looks as wonderful as ever.” Ren took a moment to study the other woman, she looked to be in her mid thirties and a bit of a motherly aura about her. She had a kind face and gentle eyes, the kind of woman he managed had trouble even hurting a fly much less a person. She was a bit on the tall side, but not that much taller than Ann was.

“Oh… you brought a friend? I’ve never seen you bring anyone else in here.” Fujiko noted as she looked at Ren. “Oh… is he a boyfriend?”

Ann flushed slightly at the comment. “Yeah… yeah he is.” She said and then looked back at Ren, he only gave her a supportive smile. “Umm… Ren, this is Fujiko Akiyama, the owner of the store and a friend. Fujiko, this is Ren Amamiya.”

“It’s a plreasure to meet you, Amamiya-san.” Fujiko greeted him.

“No… please, the pleasure is mine, Akiyama-san. Please just call me Ren.” He said and gave the older woman a bow of his head. Fujiko grinned.

“Oh, you got a good one Ann. I can already tell.” She said with a heavy amount of mirth. “Now… what can I get you?”

Ann was blushing again slightly, but recovered quickly when the talk came back to dessert. “Can I get two of your crepes, one of the Boston Cream and the other chocolate strawberry?”

Fujiko smiled and nodded. “Of course. And how about you, Ren-kun?”

Ren looked at the menu that was written on the black board and the display counter. He wasn’t as big a fan of sweet things as Ann, especially so early in the morning, but under the current circumstances he didn’t mind it.

“I’ll take a piece of your fudge marbled cheesecake.” He answered the woman.

“Go ahead and take a seat and I’ll have your desserts out to you.”

Ren followed Ann to a seat next to the door and locked his eyes on hers. He could see a bit of pensiveness there. She wanted to say something, but was having trouble on how to say it. It was a quality that he loved about her. She was always so expressive, especially her eyes, that many times he could read what she was thinking.

“I’ve never told anyone about this place.” She said to him. “Not even Shiho. Whenever I just wanted a moment to myself… I’d come here.”

That explained why she had him promise not to tell anyone about it. It was a good secret spot. Ren himself had to admit that he’d never have thought to look for this place. He wondered how she had even found it to begin with. “It’s that important to you?” He asked. He watched her nod silently. He could tell she was still searching for the words to tell him something. “That makes the promise all the more important then, and thank you for showing me.”

He was beyond happy to see the smile that came to her lips then. Ren cherished those moments more than any other, and if he had his way, he’d make sure she was always smiling. Of course, he couldn’t actually make that happen, but he could damn well try.

“I also wanted to say I’m sorry...” She said to him. “For not answering you since we left last night. I just had a lot on my mind. That ritual was… intense.” She looked up into his eyes. “I… I have been trying to figure out how to talk to you about it.”

Ren raised a brow. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I will always have an ear to lend you, Ann.”

The woman took a deep breath and nodded. Ann mustered up the courage to go back and relive the traumatic visions she had went through during the lockdown. The more Ren listened, the more anxious he got. Had all of them gone through similar experiences? No wonder everyone had been keeping to themselves. Her story continued on through until the end, leaving Ren dumbfounded. At some point, their desserts had come as well, and he hadn’t even noticed.

“Ann… I’m sorry.” He said. “If I had known...”

“No. It’s okay.” Ann answered him. “I think, it ended up being for the best. I think I truly had become to reliant on you, Ren. Even when I was studying in America, I needed your calls and your messages to help get me through. I still want us to lean on each other, to support each other, but I need to be able to stand on my own too.”

Ren nodded. Picking up his fork he took a bite of the cheesecake and stopped for the moment. It was quite possibly one of the most delicious desserts he had ever tasted. The dessert was velvety smooth and just the perfect amount of richly sweet without being overbearing. Judging from Ann’s giggle, it had to have been good enough to pierce his usually stoic countenance.

“Fujiko makes the best desserts in Tokyo.” Ann said happily. “And now I am very glad that I brought you here.”

Gazing back over at her, Ren cracked a smile, a mischievous one. “I see. I’m sure I can repay the favor sometime.”

Ann’s eyes went wide for a moment as she contemplated what he meant, and what exactly he would do to repay her. Just the look made him chuckle. He honestly enjoyed flustering and teasing her just to see her reactions.

“I am glad though, that you talked to me about it.” Ren said after another bite of the absolutely delectable cheesecake. “You definitely seem more confident and stronger now. But, I’ll still be there whenever you need me.”

Ann rewarded him with another of those honest smiles. “The same goes for you too.”

It didn’t take the two of them long to finish their food and say goodbye to Fujiko. Soon they were back out on the streets of Tokyo, walking aimlessly. Neither of them really had a plan, but they didn’t want to part yet either.

Ren laced his fingers through Ann’s holding her hand gently as they walked without direction.

“So, what should we do now?” He asked her.

Ann thought about it for the moment. She hadn’t had much of a plan after taking him to Fujiko’s shop. “I don’t know, maybe we can just see where our legs take us?”

“Sounds good to me.” Ren agreed. “Lead the way.”

At his suggestion, Ann did exactly as he asked and took the lead. Aimlessly the couple roamed the streets of Tokyo without a care. University started tomorrow, and darker things likely loomed on the horizon, but for now, both of them just wanted to enjoy the time they had together.

Without even thinking about it their legs eventually carried them to Inokashira Park. They enjoyed the peace and the quiet of the park for a little bit before they stumbled upon a few stalls and what looked like some sort of small festival happening. Neither of them were aware of anything that was being celebrated.

“Excuse me… what’s going on?” Ann asked one of the people seemingly working the stands.

The older man looked up at the pair and he smiled. “Oh, this is just a small get together.”

“Small?” Ren asked. There had to be at least a hundred or so odd people here.

“Yes. There used to be a high school near the park… it shut down a little over a decade ago though. A lot of the alumni and former teachers come back here once a year to celebrate and remember the school.” The man told them.

“Oh… I see. Well, we wouldn’t want to intrude...” Ann said.

“No please, you’re more than welcome here.” the man insisted. “It’ll be nice to have some youngsters like you all around.”

Ren smiled. “Thank you for the kind offer.” He looked over to Ann to see what she thought. The blonde returned his gaze and gave him a quick nod. Why not? If the people were okay with them coming along, they might as well enjoy themselves.

“We’ll be more than happy to stick around then.” Ann said, giving the older man her most winning smile.

“I’m happy to hear that. There’s not much here, but please enjoy yourselves.” The old man answered her and went back to preparing whatever it was he was working on.

“I guess we should take a look around then.” Ren said and went together with Ann to look around the gathering.

The one thing that they noticed was an overwhelming amount of watermelons. It wasn’t even the season for them yet, but there were watermelons everywhere. Luckily everyone was just as friendly as the old man that greeted them was, and were more than happy to have some new faces around.

“So, why are there so many watermelons?” Ann ended up asking a man that seemed to be coordinating the outing. He wore a suit and his lapel had a pin from another high school on it in the area. It was easy to imagine the man was likely some sort of administrator of the old school and now his current one, judging from the fine clothes he was wearing.

“Ah, curious?” The man asked with a grin. “The old school we all came from had a very nice greenhouse. One of the teachers used it to make watermelons year round. The school became known for them. So we always make sure to have plenty of watermelon on hand. Please help yourselves.”

Taking the man up on his offer, Ann and Ren spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon talking, playing games, and eating pretty much all the watermelon that either of them could handle. All of the people there were more than happy to regale them with stories of their old school, and it served to remind the university bound students of their own time in Shujin.

After just enjoying the atmosphere for a while, they said their goodbyes to their new acquaintances and moved to head to their next destination, wherever that ended up being.

“That was surprisingly fun…” Ann said happily.

“And the watermelon was delicious too.” Ren chuckled.

“We’ll have to see if we can meet them all again next year.” Ann suggested and received a nod from Ren in agreement.

He looked up to the sky between the trees. It would start growing dark in a few hours, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t enjoy themselves for a while longer yet. “So… how about we go find something else interesting to do?” He asked her.

“Like what?”

“Not sure. We could always go and catch a movie and then dinner. Or there’s always the possibility of going shopping. I know you enjoy that.”

Ann blushed for a moment and gave him a playful push. “You make it sound like I’m some sort of stereotype.”

Ren gave a light laugh as he came back to her after she pushed him away. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I admit I like it.”

“What? You like to go shopping?” Ann responded with a rather wide-eyed expression of shock.

“With you, definitely.” Ren answered. His tone had a heavy hint of teasing in it. “Watching you work your magic and then the look of joy and excitement once you find that perfect piece is the best.”

Ann blushed slightly. “You’re terrible. Terrible!”

Ren couldn’t help enjoying teasing her like he did. Her reactions were always wonderful, and every one seemingly cuter than the last. “It’s the truth though.” He stated simply.

“Alright then, you can treat me to spree in Ginza.” She teased him back. A spree in Ginza would put a large amount of hurt on his wallet.

Ren placed a hand over his heart and looked at her with a faux pained expression. “Please go easy on me.”

Ann giggled and shook her head. “Never.”

Together the two of them headed to Ginza to enjoy their time. Luckily, it seemed Ann had been only teasing him and she only bought a handful of items. Mostly it was just the two of them window shopping and enjoying each other’s company.

Once the sun began to set, Ren turned his attention towards finding them a place to eat. The entire day had been pretty much improvised, so they didn’t exactly have reservations anywhere. That didn’t stop them from finding a nice little diner to stop and eat.

The food was pretty good, but the company was the best part of the dinner. After how hectic things had been pretty much ever since they had all gotten back together in Tokyo, it was nice to have a good slow day that he got to enjoy with just the two of them. Once they had their fill and they were supposed to part for the night to prepare for the start of their university careers, both Ren and Ann found themselves suddenly lethargic. Their steps were slow, and seemingly growing slower by the moment.

“I wish time could stop… at least for a little while...” Ann said as they stood at the train platform and waited for the train to arrive. The damned train that would make them part as Ren would have to get off at his stop while she continued on to hers.

“I know...” Ren responded, sharing her sentiment entirely. He felt her squeeze his hand tighter as the train began to roll into the station.

“Ren… I don’t want to...” She started before he caught her with an adoring gaze that was matched with a mischievous smirk. That smirk always sent chills up her spine in all the best ways. She knew that he was going to suggest something either wonderful or crazy, or, most often, both.

“Why don’t you come back to the cafe and stay with me.” Ren told her with that smirk still on his lips. “I can make sure you wake up early enough to get back home to get ready...”

Ann was left speechless in the moment. It wouldn’t be the first time that she had spent the night over with him, there had been that wonderful Christmas Eve after they beat Yaldabaoth after all. A slight blush crept up on her cheeks but she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, please.” She said.

Ren chuckled and leaned in closer to her, resting his forehead against hers. “Perfect.” Then he pushed in closer and gently placed his lips against her, kissing her with a loving tenderness that threatened to steal away her breath more than any passionate kiss between them ever had.

When the train stopped and the doors opened, they had to break their kiss to board. Luckily, with as late as it was, there was some seats that they could take.

Once seated, Ann gazed out of the corner of their eye at Ren, who she caught licking his lips.

“What are you doing?” She asked him.

She couldn’t believe it when she had finally gotten a blush out of him. He was so rarely flustered by anything at all, ever. He began to twirl the little strand of hair that dangled in front of his glasses.

“Just thinking… I might have a new favorite flavor.”

“Huh?”

“Watermelon… I could still taste it, on your lips… along with the sugar from your dessert...” He explained.

It was Ann’s turn to grow red in the cheeks and ears. “Ren!” She cried out. He could only chuckle as the doors closed and the train departed for Yongen-Jaya.


End file.
